Life's Lessons To Learn
by InnerCherry
Summary: //"Fuckin' hell..." Sakura muttered as she stared at the gruesome scene before her. "That's both intersting and disturbing." Naruto stated. "Don't you DARE touch my girl!" Sasuke yealled, sharingan swirling. NaruOC SasuSaku mild NejTen ShikaIno KibaHin
1. Chapter 1

**Hello fello fanfic readers! This is silentnightmares18 starting her very first Naruto story! I'm so very excited! *squeals*... I don't usually do that just so you know. *Ahem* Anyways, the couples to this actiony/angsty/drama-like/romantic/kick-ass story is as follows:**

**Sasu/Saku- anything else is just wrong**

**Naru/OC- I'm usually a Naru/Hina fan but...**

**Hina/Kiba- I tolerate it and in this case, apply it**

**Ino/Shika- see reason for Sasu/Saku**

**Ten/Neji- look above**

**This story is actually a daydream that's been pestering me for a while so I told my cousin Cara about and she said to go ahead and make it a story. So here I am potentially embarrissing myself. No pressure to review though it'd be nice. By the way, there will be a ton of OCs in my story. It takes place before Naruto goes off w/ Jiraiya and before Sasuke disappears (all of them are 13 unless otherwise stated). Sakura, Naruto, and Sauske are still training under Kakashi and Tsunade is the Fifth Hokage. **

**I don't own any Naruto charecters. On with the story!**

**STORY TIME!**

_'Damn Uchiha! Go to hell you fucking son of a bitch!'_ Who would have thought that young, innocent Haruno Sakura would have such a colorfull language? Throwing open the door to her currently empty house, the thirteen-year-old kunoichi finally let the tears she had been holding back since leaving the training ground fall down her pale face.

_**'Got that right! He was the one who offered you to train! The nerve of that bastard!'**_ Inner Sakura screamed as the outer one shut and locked her house door and closed the curtains in the living room. That being done, the young girl ran upstairs and slammed her bedroom door shut behind her and let the previous events wash over her as she searched through her desk for a certaint folder.

_Flashback_

_"Sakura." the raven-haired Uchiha survivor called to his pink-haired teammate._

_"Yes Sasuke-kun?" Sakura had stopped being a complete and total fangirl about three months ago. However she did sometimes still act like one._

_"Train with me." Oh. My. God. He finally took notice of her! Sakura would have squealed if she hadn't know he'd take back his offer. _

_"Yes, I would." Twenty minutes later, Sakura was tired, sore and positive her bruises had bruises. Sasuke wasn't even panting._

_"Your a useless sparing partner." _

_The girl froze. Currently hunched over with her hands on her knees, she had to lift her head to see his face contorted with disgust. _

_"You need to grow up and stop being so weak all the time." Now Sakura was getting mad._

_"Then why the hell did you invite me to train with you?!" The pink-haired kunoichi said through gritted teeth. All Sasuke did was blink._

_"Because I wanted to see how strong you were. Turns out your just an annoying, weak little girl." With that he walked away with his hands thrust in his pants pockets, leaving the poor girl speachless and on the verge of tears._

_End Flashback_

Sakura flipped through the dark red folder she found in her desk that was labled 'Jutsus From Sierra.' It was filled with step-by-step demonstrations of how to perform powerful jutsus that needed excellent chakra control. Luckily, Sakura had that chakra control.

**fhfhfhfhfhfhfhfhfhfhfhfhfhfhfh**

"Go. To. Hell. You. Fucking. Sons. Of. Bitches." Said a brunette girl as she threw everything thing she had at the Sound Nin that just 'happened' to appear out of no where. Che. _Right_, 'cause they_ weren't_ stalking her and her cousin.

"Sierra, I don't think they're going to let up just because your scaring them." A blonde-haired girl sighed as the girl, Sierra, faced the last one.

"How stupid of them, aye, Cara?" The blonde smiled at her 13-year-old cousin. Cara was eleven and would be turning twelve in a few months.

"As always." Was the reply as Sierra finished off the last one and sank to the ground, panting heavily. Yawning, Sierra lifted her head towards the sky as Cara joined her.

"Troublesome sound nin." The brunette muttered.

"You sound like Shikamaru." The blond giggled. Her cousin snorted at the comment and then sighed. She stood up again and Cara did the same.

"Best be off. If we linger too long more sound nin will find us."

"Sierra you should rest-"

"We have to get to Konoha. No unnecessary stops." It was an order, and an order from Sierra was one to be obeyed. Cara sighed again, and followed her cousin into the trees.

**fhfhfhfhfhfhfhfhfhfhfhfhfhfhfhfhfh**

"I'll show that bastard! Nothing can stop Haruno Sakura when she puts her mind to it!" the pastel-haired girl mumbled, unaware of the adventures soon to be bestowed upon her.

**fhfhfhfhfhfhfhfhfhfhfhfhfhfhfhfhf**

**Well chapter 1 is done! See ya!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Okie-dokie! Time for chapter two!!!**

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"Saaaakuuuuraaaaaa! Open the door!" This cry was loud enough to wake the dead, let alone the kunoichi who had once again been trying to drift off to slumberland. Groaning and cursing the person under her breath, said genin got out of her oh so soft bed to the oak door as she got ready to punch whoever was there into yester-year. Opening the door, she saw her team there, complete with their sensei. When they saw her all their eyes widened, even the stioc Uchiha's.

"WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU WANT?! SOME PEOPLE ARE TRYING TO SLEEP DAMN IT!" Sakura yelled.

"Uh... S-sakura-chan is only wearing a lacy bra and short-shorts." Naruto stuttered staring at her chest. Looking down, she indeed saw that was the only thing she was wearing. Lifting her head again, Sakura saw that her two teammates were still staring, with red faces, at her scantily clad form. Kakashi, who didn't want to be yelled at, had turned around when she opened the door. Restraining herself from killing both boys (which was very hard to do), the girl turned around with a stiff back and walked back to her bedroom to change, leaving the door open for them. Walking into her living room, they saw it was a mess. Books and scrolls were tossed everywhere. There were blankets on the couch and a green pillow suggesting someone had slept there recently.

"I would never have guessed you were so... preoccupied with your self-training Sakura." Kakashi-sensie said as the girl came back fully clothed in her normal atire.

"Yeah, well... anyways what do you want? Don't you know not to come over to someone's house at 7:30 in the morning?'' Anyone within a 12 mile radius could understand by her voice that she was so _not_ a morning person.

"Tsunade-baa-chan wants to see us and Gai's team. I think it's a mission." Naruto said.

"No duh, dope." Sasuke said whilst looking at Sakura out of the corner of his eye. _What the hell?,_ he thought,_ I didn't think she ever trained._

"Well what are we waiting for?" The pink-haired kunoichi that, Team Seven set off to see the Hokage. _I can't help but think,_ Sakura thought silently to herself as her and her team bounded over the rooftops in Konoha,_ something is wrong. Something bad has either happened or is going to happen._

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Team Seven entered the Hokage's office not long after they had left Sakura's.

"Good. Now that your all here, we can begin. I have a mission for both Team Seven and Thirteen and Shikamaru, who has already been briefed and is waiting quite impatiently at the gate. I believe everyone here, especially you Sakura and Kakashi know of the Peace Keeper?"

"Of course! Sierra is the most powerfull of all ninja! She must be very youthful!" Gai exclamed.

"As one of her personal sensies, I can tell you Gai, she is anything _but_ youthful." Kakashi sighed closing his book and slipping it into his pocket.

"Yosh! I agree with Gai-sensie." Lee exclaimed, striking his pose.

"Shut up Lee!" Tenten and Neji yelled, causing Team Thirteen to start yelling.

"What a bunch of idiots." Naruto whispered to Sasuke.

"Speak for yourself dope."

"What did you say teme?!"

"Shizune get me a bottle of sake!''

"Yes Tsunade-sama."

By now, the entire room was loud. Tenten was shouting at Neji and Lee who were arguing and getting ready to start a fight, Naruto was yelling at Sasuke who was starting to _inunciate,_ because Uchihas don't yell, Gai was trying to get Kakashi into a fight, and Tsunade was trying to get everyone to shut up.

"WILL YOU ALL JUST SHUT THE FUCK UP!" Sakura screamed at a very high-pitched tone. Immediatley, the entire room became extremely quiet.

"What about Sierra?" Sakura said loud and clear.

"Ahem, yes. Thank you Sakura. As I was saying, Sierra the Peace Keeper contacted me. She needs two emergency squads sent to her assistance. Apparently, Sound has been chasing her and her cousin for a while. You won't need to pack they are somewhere in the Konoha forest. Kakashi your in charge. Sakura, she didn't give me any coordinates, so you are going to lead them to her. Everyone got it? Good. Dissmissed."

Walking out of the Hokage's office, the first one to speak was Naruto.

"Sakura-chan you can track the Peace Keeper?! That's awesome!"

"Yosh! Naruto is correct Sakura-chan! You are so full of youth! Please be my girlfriend and I shall always protect you!" Lee said, kneeling down and grasping her hand. Sakura sweatdropped and pulled her hand out of his.

"The offer is nice Lee, but a) I don't need protection, and b) I already told you no." At her comment Naruto smirked.

"Yeah Bushy-brows, as Sakura-chan's self-proclaimed brother and the next Hokage, I will not let her be forced into something she doesn't want!"

"I would never!"

"Since when are you Sakura's self-proclaimed brother? I thought you loved her." Sasuke grumbled as they walked on.

"Haha! And I still do! But more in a sisterly way! Uh, um, is that all right Sakura-chan?" Naruto said.

Sakura was a little shocked that he had actually _asked,_ but none the less she smiled and said, " Of course! But can we please hurry up with our mission. I know Sierra, and she absolutely _never_ asks for help unless she really needs it."

"Sakura is right. Lets get a move on." Kakashi said, his book back out. With that the group rushed over the rooftops to see Shikamaru waiting, as Tsunade said, rather impatiently.

"Troublesome people! What took you so long? Never mind. Let's go!" The very irrated chunin said. With that, the team of nine jump into the trees.

"Sakura, can you log into Sierra's chakra signiture?" Shikamaru asked the pink-haired teen. She, Kakashi, Gai, and Shikamaru were at the front with Naruto, Sasuke, Tenten, Neji, and Lee right behind them. Sakura nodded to him and the group came to a stand-still. Taking out a dark pink circle pendent set in silver on a silver chain and setting it on top of her red dress, Sakura started doing some hand signs. Closing her eyes and taking a deep breathe, she yelled,

**"Peace keeper's jutsu: secondary necklace release!"** As soon as she said that, a bright pink light from her chakra erupted around her. Her short hair started swirling around her in a tornado like crazy. After a minute or two, her hair stopped whirling but her pink aura remained. Opening her eyes again, the gang saw that her normally emerald eyes were a bright pink but faded to their natural green after a moment.

"Let's go." And with those seriously serious word, Teams Thirteen, Seven, and Shikamaru bounded away through the trees with Sakura at the front.

"Neji, can you see anything?" Kakashi asked as his only visible eye swivled to look at the Hyugga prodigy.

"Hold on. _**Byakugan!**_"Neji grunted. His eye veins puffed as the Hyuuga Clan's kekkai-genkai was activated. There was a pause as he searched the forest ahead, then-

"There's about fifty dead sound-nin 10 meters ahead; plus 50 or so more alive ninjas that are battleing a severley injured brown-haired girl who is protecting a blond-haired girl."

"Well, that's not good," the white-haired jounin muttered. While that was going on, Naruto was getting very annoyed at being left out of the conversation.

"HELLO! Can someone please explain exactly what's going on to those of us who do not know!" The kyuubi vessell yelled.

"It's really quite simple. Sierra has information that Orochimaru doesn't want out and she's been running away from sound for a while. Since she's severly injured, she probably has almost no chakra left." Kakashi explained, all the while managing to look unconcerned. Suddenly, Sakura stopped.

"Here." she said. Everyone looked down into a clearing and gasped and/or cussed in shock, except Neji.

"Fuckin' hell.." Sakura muttered staring at the bloody, grusome scene before her.

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**YAY! CLIFFIES RULE! I promise sooner updates! PLZ R&R!**


	3. Chapter 3

**All right, here is chapter 3!! Enjoy! **

**WAIT!!!**

**I would like to give a special shout out to:**

**Fire Rouge Shinobi **

**Kel-Bel-chan**

**ChristinaAngel**

**Ribbonrebel31**

**and the anonymous reviewer.**

**Thank you so much for your support! I love you guys! *cries tears of joy***

_**'BlahBlah'**_ = Sierra's inner

_**'BlahBlah'**_ = Sakura's inner

_'BlahBlah'_ = thinking

"BlahBlah" = talking

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The group of ninja looked down upon a semi-large clearing. Normally this would have been a peaceful sight, if it wasn't for the dead sound-nin bodies. Most of those bodies had been stabbed with shuriken and kunai, others were burned beyond recognition, still others were decapited, cut in half, or had other various fatal wounds. Blood was splattered everywhere. Despite all the dead enemy shinobi, many more, about 50 as Neji said, still stood with Kabuto at the lead.

Facing the Konoha ninja hiding in the trees, a brunette haired girl in a pony-tail wearing a sleavless red vest over a tight fitting black tanktop that was tied with a scrunchie two inches above her belly button stood glaring. A fishnet shirt could be seen under that over her stomach and covering her arms, though the ends of her fishnet sleeves were covered with black gloves. Over skin-tight black pants, the brunette wore a bright red mini skirt. On her feet were the usual ninja sandals, except black. Her skirt was held up by a black belt that had a sword, two small rectangular pouches, an oval weapons pouch, and a rectangular medical pouch; a shruiken pouch on her leg was noticable. And Neji was right; the brunette was severely injured. A gash that was dripping blood down her arm from her shoulder made her right arm hang limply. Her clothes were ripped, she was majorly bruised, and there was another wound to the left and down two degrees from where her heart was.

Standing behind her was a girl with blue eyes and dirty-blond hair that went down to just below her shoulder blades. She was wearing what looked to be a long-sleeved off the shoulder blue shirt and dark matching blue bike shorts under a marine blue-green dress that ended two inches above her knees. The dress was a tank top chinese styled top with a slight v-neck that had the overlapping part ended with purple bow. On her feet were the regular blue ninja sandals. Two slightly thick groups of hair were pulled back in a braid while the rest of her hair was down. She had bangs that ended just above her sapphire eyes.

"Kaka-sensie... what do we do?" The question from the emerald-eyed genin brought everyone's attention to the white-haired jounin. Though she knew to wait for orders, Sakura was aching to get down there and help her long time friend and Inner Sakura wasn't helping her obey the logical side of her brain since she was yelling:

_**'Cha! Go down there and show those assholes not to mess with our friends already! Screw the rules! And this could be the perfect time to show that Uchiha bastard that we are not and never have been weak! Shannaro!'**_

And the fact that Shikamaru was inching as close as he could to the edge of the tree was also not helping. And although Kakashi looked alouf, you could tell he was tense. Seems as though she wasn't the only one anxious.

"Sakura, how good at you at medial jutsus? I saw a medic-nin study scroll in your house while we were there." The ex-anbu member said/asked.

"I can heal broken bones, semi-deep cuts, non-critical internal damage, and draw out poison."

"Okay then. Sakura go over there and start healing Sierra and Cara to the best of your abilities. Shikamaru, Naruto, and Sasuke go with her and protect the three of them. Gai, Lee, TenTen, and Neji take out as many sound-nin as quickly as you an using the least amount of chakra." Seeing Naruto and Sasuke about to object, he added, "Naruto, Sasuke, a lot of sound-nin will probably be out to try and get past you to kill Sierra, so don't think I gave you the easy job. Everybody got it?"

Insert nods of affirmation.

"Good. Remember our goal is to bring them back as safe and as soon as possible. Move!"

With those words, the team moved out to do their duties, Sakura in the lead as her group headed to the female ninjas.

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"You know Sierra, if you would just come back to Sound with us it would save you so much trouble and pain." sneered a confident Kabuto as he twirled a kunai on one finger and strategetically took a diagonal upwards step towards the two girls. The afore mentioned girl had been debating wether or not to summon her favorite Battle Axe,though that would take up a lot of the little cakra she had left.

"The day I go to Sound willingly for matters other than that required of the Peace Keeper, is the day that Orochi-pedophile turns straight." Sierra deadpanned with a completely straight face earning a small, worried, amused smile from Cara and an attempted 'scary' glare and scowl combo from Kabuto. _**'I'm shaking in my ninja shoes.'**_ Inner Sierra drawled.

"Orochimaru-sama is not a pedophile and is to be respected _little girl!_"

_Twitch._

Oh no he did not. _**'He did not just call me little!'**_ Sierra's inner shrieked.

_'Calm down. A good shinobi alwys keeps their cool and should always think things through.' _the brunette thought to herself. Coming back to the real world, Sierra started reaching for her metal fans that rested on the belt at her hip in two small rectangular puches, when she sensed nine chakras settling into the trees on the opposite side of the clearing; three of them were familiar. Considering how faint the chakra patterns were even though they were so close, the girl guessed they were hiding their prescence to make up a plan and also concluded they were Konoha-nin when she pinpointed Sakura's chakra.

_'About time the backup got here.'_

"Si-chan?" a soft voice called behind her. So, her cousin had seen her left hand changing directions to touch the hilt of her sword. Wincing as the action brushed her wounds, the Peace Keeper paused in the movement of getting a firmer grip on the handle before responding with a murmured 'yes?'.

"Your not thinking of charging them, are you?" _'To lie or not to lie...'_ Glancing back at her cousin's round, anxious expression and her wide, glistening eyes, Sierra decided not to charge the enemy and let her hand fall back where it was. _**'The plan was flawed anyways; it would've left Cara open...'**_ Inner Sierra reasoned, though truthfully she had been wanting to get up close and personal.

"No, i'm not." _'Anymore...'_

Suddenly, two groups shot out of the trees. One group with five people headed to the suprised sound-nin. Sierra's hard, emotionless green-blue eyes glimpsed white hair that defied physics, a horrendous bowl cut or two, and green spandex and knew Kakashi and Gai and their genin teams had come. The second group headed straight for them consisted of Sakura, Shikamaru, a blond that had a chakra that could only belong to that of the Kyuubi, and a raven- haired shinobi who was tainted with a supressed amount of Orochimaru's chakra. _'Hmm? What's this? The Kyuubi conatiner. . . Uzumaki Naruto... and a young shinobi whom I sense has sharingan. . must be Uchiha Sasuke. . . How very odd. . . and here I came to Konoha to remove the cursed seal from him and Anko. . . that's what you call irony.'_

However, before the second group could even get halfway over to her and Cara, Sierra's eyesight started sporting black dots, her head started to spin, and her body started to tremble. Her left leg gave out and she began to fall towards the side before catching herself and stumbling forward a step or two. Body still trembling, her left arm reached up to grasp the wound on her right one. Grunting in pain, Sierra ignored her cousin's gasps of worry and rightened herself tiredly.

A femime voice beloning to none other than Sakura cried out her name and soon after warm arms wrapped around her shoulders and helped her lie down on the ground.

"Damn it Sierra, how many times do I have to tell you to take better care of yourself?!" Sakura rebuked. Her response was a grunt.

"Don't waste your breath Sakura; the troublsome woman will never listen." Said 'toublesome woman' craned her neck to see Shikamaru, Uzumaki, and Uchiha in a defensive triangle and Cara hovering behind Sakura. Turning back to the pink-haired genin, Sierra watched her friend heal her and was amazed at how good she'd become before responding to her cousin.

"Shut up Sikamaru. Your annoying me; don't make me hurt you." The last remark made him snort which in turn caused her to glare at his back. It was then she noticed the world was no longer spinning and the black dots had disappeared as well. But damn, her body hurt like a bitch. Ignoring that painful fact, the injured kunoichi sighed and closed her eyes, deciding to focus on the sounds of battle around her. Relaxing herself and making sure her breathing was even, Sierra focused on the battles farthest from her. Depicting Kakashi's chakra out from the crowd of ninja, she set her focus on his body movements and actions.

_'He's killing off sound-nin quickly; he'll throw a kunai left right. . . now.'_ **(Somewhere aross the clearing, Kakashi threw a kunai left.)** After predicting each of the Konohagura-nin's next moves, the Peace Keeper noticed something strange as everyone was finishing off the last of the enemy nins.

There were vibrations underground.

As soon as this fact registered in her mind, she immediatley knew what was happening when she traced the vibrations source and path. Snapping her eyes open, Sierra roughly pushed Sakura away, earning a shocked indignation of her name, and sat up, her eyes imediatley zeroing to the intended destination of the vibrations.

_'The kyuubi boy!'_

Fighting the spasms of pain her still open and bleeding chest wound gifted her, she hurridly stumbled to a standing position- her good arm, her left one, grasping her bandaged, limp right one- and automatically began sprinting to the blond shinobi, feeling the vibrations getting stronger and closer with every step she took.

Angling her body correctly, the poor genin boy only had time to turn around before being knocked away a good three feet. Attempting to speed up so she didn't get hit, Sierra knew she was too late to get out of the way on foot, so instead opted to jump to the right half a second before a sound-nin jumped out of the ground tossing a barage of senbon needles, kunai, and shruiken in his wake. Using the last of her strength and relying on her flexibility greatly, Sierra was able to dodge all the weaponry thrown her way but was greeted with a fist in the face upon landing on the pact ground. Grunting from where she'd landed about ten feet away, the brunette pulled herself into a kneeling position, one eye closed, panting, and still clutching her right arm.

_'What now?'_

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The veridian eyed kunoichi sprung from her crouch the moment Sierra brought herself to a kneeling position. Flying towards her opponent, Sakura attempted to ram a punch in his back, when he moved to the left. Smirking at the expected reaction, the girl swung her foot around and connected it to his side; he coughed up blood. Jumping up, she switched legs and kicked him higher into the air before he could land. Taking out four kunai and aiming, Sakura threw them and a triumphant smirk at him. The weapons made the desired hit; one hit him in the heart whilst the other three hammered that first one further into his skin. He was dead before he hit the ground and the fight had taken a minute and a half. Wasting no time, the aspiring ninja ran to her kneeling friend's aid and determindely began healing her again.

Inside her mind, Inner Sakura was cheering because Sasuke, who had finished his enemy off long before her battle began, was now studying her form.

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"Good job Sakura." Sierra murmured under the loud shouts of Uzumaki and a Gai-look-alike as they, too, complimented Sakura. The rosette-haired girl flashed her a small smile that whent unnoticed by it's reciever as she was lost in her thoughts. A gut feeling was telling Sierra that something important was being overlooked, some fact was missing. Mentally shaking her head, the teen focused on Sakura's healing abilities.

_'She's extremely good at chakra control; she may even surpass Tsunade someday and could probably hold an even match with Kabuto if she had the right training...'_

_Kabuto._

It all clicked; she knew what the gut- wrenching feeling was telling her as she searched the battlefield for a sign of purple and silver. None was seen. Another thought snapped into place. Where was Cara? Where was her darling pupil? Her cousin? She wasn't in sight.

Standing and once again knocking Sakura's healing hands away, Sierra turned in circles searching for the person who not there. Panic creeping and pulling at the edge of her mind, she called out, thus alerting everyone present the reason for her sudden distress.

"Cara? Cara!" The hysteria was climbing now and she savagely fought it back.

"Looking for someone Sierra-chan?" Said girl whipped her head around to the sound of the voice coming form the shadows.

There he was. Kabuto slowly, tauntingly, moved out from under the shade of the trees at the opposite end of the clearing, stopping ten feet away from the field's edge with a triumphant smirk plastered on his face. In his arms looking small and frail with terrified, wide blue eyes, tousled hair and a kunai to her neck was Cara.

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**Thanks once again for the reviews and all you had added me to your alert lists and favorited!**

**R&R!**


	4. Chapter 4

**Yay! Another chapter. Just wanted to say I'm gonna try to remember note to post anymore notes as story chapters. Unless it's extremely important. I hope you like this chapter, it took me months to write it out on paper. It's 9 sheets of, paper back and front, and the front of another page long.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.**

**CLAIMER: I **_**DO **_**OWN SIERRA, CARA, THE TEN-TAILED DEMON, AND ANY JUSTU NOT IN JAPANESE!!!!!**

**--- Chapter 4 ---**

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_**Sierra's P.O.V.**_

_'Cara. . .'_I could feel my wide eyes begin to tear up and readjusted my facial expression, nerves, and mind-set bfore burying the anguish and worry so no one could catch sight of my weak moment. Luckily, no one saw it.

"Kabuto. Let. Her. Go. Now." I growled. My own voice got me kind of freaked out. It was so animal-like.

_'I won't be able to hold the demon back if I get any angrier. . ."_

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_**Normal P.O.V.**_

"Kabuto. Let. Her. Go. Now." A collective shiver ran throughout the clearing; even those who weren't in danger of her murderous intent were scared. Poor Kabuto was shaking in his ninja sandals. He wasn't about to show it though. So, he smirked.

An ominous wind blew through the clearing.

_'Strike one Kabuto.'_Kakashi thought to himself as he watched his former pupil tense and ball her hands into fists. The ex-anbu could sense suppressed demon chakra rolling off her in waves.

"Actually Sierra, I was thinking we could do something a little different. You-" his smirk became a twisted and creepy smile "-for you cousin." An audible growl emitted itself from Sierra's throat and her glare almost made Kabuto piss his pants. Everyone in the clearing could practically taste the barely supressed demon chakra now.

_'Strike two. How troublesome; doesn't he know that contrdicting her in this state could be his death?!'_Shikamaru ground his teeth trying to think of a way out of this situation where everyone (minus Kabuto) lived. He couldn't supply a plan that met that requirement.

"You're in no position to be making demands." The brunette teen hissed.

Kabuto frowned and glared at the girl. "Frankly, neither are you." The kunai pressed harder to Cara's throat and the blond winced.

Blood flowed down her pale neck from the fresh cut.

The Wolf's Demon's chakra was no longer suppressed. A fiercely strong chakra pattern nearly threw them off their feet as the demon in Sierra made it's presence known. A cloak of silver was bubbling up around the Peace Keeper and it had a black and evil looking purple looking tint. Her lips drew back over enlarging canines. Sharp fangs over lapped her bottom lip. Her eyes, once a beutiful but cold set of green-blue irises, faded to a demonic red with a bright yellow undertone. Her pupils were black cat-like slits. The now finished chakra cloak had taken the form of a wolf; complete with ears, paws, and a tail. Her nails had grown to be three inch long claws. Her stance had even changed. She was on all fours with an arched back. Blood dribbled down her chin where a fang had cut her lip. The evil chakra around her made the bloodlust in her eyes more pronounced.

Before anyone could even take another breath, Sierra was a blur as she sprinted animal-style across the cleraring. When she was three feet away from Kabuto and Cara, the demonized girl disappeared only to reappear to the left before attacking the purple clad ninja. She had jumped on him which caused Kabuto to his shift his feet into a wider stance so he didn't fall or stagger as expected. Sierra's right arm was gripping the wrist of the arm Kabuto had wrapped around Cara's waist while her left arm was gripping his right shoulder. Her fangs were embedded in the wrist that held the kunai to her cousin's neck. Sierra's eyes were still wide the want for blood and her feet were firmly planted in Kabuto's right side. Another chakra tail materialized.

The Peace Keeper then caught sight of her cousin's face. She was terrified; even more than she had been when Sierra had first spotted her being threatened by Kabuto. Now she was scared _her_; she who had sworn to herself to keep her cousin safe. The guilt in her conscience quickly brought some sanity and rational thinking back to her. It also brought self-aimed frustration which unconsciously made her grip Kabuto's shoulder and wrist tighter and made her teeth bite down harder. He screamed and the angered demon took back most of Sierra's regained control. _'No!'_ Sierra thought as she and her inner self fought to maintain the little control they had. _'I have to get Cara out and fast!'_

Moving her left hand so it was wrapped tightly around Kabuto's right arm, the one she was biting, Sierra braced her legs firmly in place on his side and tightened her lethal grip on him before she pulled the silver-haired teen's arms away from the blond girl; a third tail appeared in the process. Struggling as Kabuto tried to move his arms back to where they were before, Sierra removed her mouth from his wrist so it was about two inches away before looking up at Cara through her eyelashes. The blue-eyed girl stiffened in response. This twinge of guilt brought more determination to the human half of her mind.

"Cara," Sierra's voice was firm, commanding, and thick with effort. "run."

She didn't move. It apperaed the girl was frozen with shock, horror, and fear. The brunette groaned. _'I don't have time for this!'_Still fighting both Kabuto and the Wolf Demon, Sierra raised her voice and called out.

"Sakura! Shikamaru! Kakashi!"

**---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------**

"Sakura! Shikamaru! Kakashi!"

Sakura's eyes widened when she heard Sierra's voice- it was urgent but slightly raspy, as if she was thirsty, and thick with strain; it was also darker in the background. But more noticeably, the way she had called to them, it was almost. . . no, it _was_ pleading.

Now was when you knew things were ten times worse than it seemed.

During Sierra's attack on Kabuto, the Konoha shinobi and two kunoichi had gathered in a group and Sakura, Kakashi, and Shikamaru had been discussing what to do since they knew Sierra best. But now as they shared a glance and a nod, the cherry blossom knew exactly what had to be done and was already forming handseals.

"**Secondary Necklace: Chakra Release Jutsu! 5 perecent!**"Not even a moment later, the pink-haired kunoichi felt four times the amount of her normal chakra strength when she was at her strongest pulsing through her veins. However, Sakura didn't stop to dwell on it and formed more handseals.

"**Inner Release Jutsu!**"

A pillar of black chakra erupted from her head and made a u-turn so it landed in a spot half a foot away from her left side_(a/n: You know how in Ino and Sakura's fight during the chunin exams Ino was returning to her body after taking over Sakura's and a blue arch formed connecting the bodies? Imagine that except black)_. Soon after the black chakra pillar finished piling up in the spot next to Sakura, a figure formed.

It was Sakura's twin with major differences. This new Sakura was dressed in the same dress as the original. The only difference there was where, as the Sakura they knew wore a red and white dress, New Sakura wore a black and white dress (black where there should've been red). Her shoes were black ninja sandals and her headband- black in stead of the normal navy blue- was nestled in the same position as the original's in short, pure white hair. Her skin was a colorless paper white. The shorts under her dress were black while her kunai and shuriken pouches were white. Her head, which had been hanging down so her bangs covered her expression, lifted to reveal white eyes with black pupils and Inner Sakura written in kanji on her forehead. The most noiticeable thing was that this Sakura look-alike was completely outlined in black _(a/n: you know how in Sakura's mind Inner Sakura is outlined in white? Like that except black)_. However, the differences weren't just in their appearences New Sakura's aura was more demanding, crontrolling, loud, determined, and had an i'm-badass-so-back-off-or-get-your-but-kicked feel. Colorful Sakura was tense while the black and white copy was relaxed.

"Inner, are you okay?" Original akura asked, never taking her eyes off Sierra, Kabuto, and Cara.

"When have I not been okay Sakura?" New Sakura retorted.

"All right. Kakashi-sensei, Shikamaru follow up close behind Inner Sakura and I. Kakashi-sensei grab Kabuto while Shikamaru, you grab Cara. I want you guys to bring them over -sensei, when Kakashi-sensei brings him, I want you and the boys to gaurd Kabuto. Tenten-chan, watch over Cara when Shikamaru brings her. Kakashi-sensei, Shikamaru, stay with the group when you've secured them." The two men nodded. Sakura turned to her inner-self and simply said: "You know what to do." Inner Sakura nodded and the four of them were off.

The two higher ranked ninja slowed down so Sakura and her inner were leading the quartet. _'Inner,'_Sakura thought to herself,_ 'keep close behind me.'__** 'Got it.'**_ was the quick reply.

The pink-haired kunoichi erached up and unzipped her red dress and let it fall off and land on the ground behind her with a heavy thunk leaving her in a loose black tank-top and her dark green bike shorts. It also left her moving faster. When she was about a foot away from the trio, Sakura pivoted on her left foot and half way from spinning around in a full circle stuck out her right leg and added a little amount of chakra to both feet. When her spin did come full circle, Sakura's right foot solidly connected to Sierra's the momentum of the kick and the chakra made the brunnette cough a mouthful of spit onto Kabuto's chest before she was flying back twenty feet. The chakra Sakura had sent to her left foot kept her momentum from spinning her around more and made it easier for her to follow Inner Sakura to where Sierra had landed.

Both girls pinned the demon container down when they reached her. A snarl made it's way out of Sierra's transfromed mouth as she struggled under the weight of the two kunoichis. Clentching her teeth, Sakura growled as pain shot through her bodyat the contact she was making with the demon's chakra cloak; it was burning her skin. Not to mention, since Sakura and her second soul were still mentally connected, Sakura felt her Inner's pain as well. Let's not forget that demonized Sierra was making it extremely hard to keep her pinned. A flash of mvement in her peripheral vision caught the genin girl's attention and she turned her head to see that Kakashi and Shikamaru had done their jobs and were back with the rest of the group.

A suprised yelp and a call of "Sakura, look out!" made the girl turn her attenion back to Sierra and her inner. Inner Sakura had been trying to get a better grip on the arm she was holding down; at the exact same moment that she shifted her hold, the demonized captive roughly jerked her arm (the same one Inner Sakura was trying to hold down) upwards which caused Inner Sakura to be thrown off the teen. With the sudden release of weight, instead of stopping, the arm continued to move upwards before turning in an ark. . .

. . . and colliding with the real Sakura's shoulder before she could dodge. Claws coated in burning demon chakra ripped through the flesh of her shoulder making the pink-haired kunoichi cry out with pain as the force of the hit knocked her away from her friend; because demon controlled or not thats exactly what Sierra was, her best friend. Keeping that thought- no, that _fact_in mind, Sakura stood up whilst clutching her injured left shoulder; discreetely healing it while watching Inner Sakura and Sierra's body, controlled by the usually peaceful Wolf Demon, stand with her. The three girls stood in a triangle trying to catch their breath or just waiting for their opponents to make a move. After she finished up healing her shoulder, Sakura tried to make a plan. But, as she watched a fourth tail form from the demon's cloak, she knew that there was only one plan that would work well enough though it could very well cost her her life.

Inner Sakura, already knowing the plan that had been chosen since she could read Sakura's mind, formed the hand sign for Kai, the seal of release, before saying: "**Inner Release Jutsu, Released!**" The black and white copy's entire form dissolved into a pillar of black chakra and formed the same ark as before as it flowed back into Sakura. Realising that she only had one opponent now, Sierra turned to completely face Sakura. Her face held a glare of utmost loathing. Seeing the look directed at her, Sakura then knew that this was no longer the Sierra she knew and loved. This was a demon that had possesed her friend's mind; though there might still be a small part of Sierra's human thought process left, it held very little (if any) power over the demon's actions. Sakura held no qualms with fighting a stranger, epecially if they were hurting her friend, so she attacked.

Suddenly it was a taijustu battle. Dodge, block, dodge, punch, kick, dodge, block, drop, kick, jump, punch, block. The veridian eyed teen was so caught up trying to find an opening, she didn't notive the fist until it was to late. Automatically sitting up as soon as she landed, Sakura's eyes widened to see the demon making her way over to her friends and Kabuto. Just as the demon was about to move the shinobi forcefully out of her way, Sakura was infront of her literally kicking her away. Jumping up, the pink-haired girl flipped in the air and was about to land an axle kick on her when Demon-Sierra grabbed her ankle and tossed her away. Sakura did a mid-air summer-sault before she fell completely so she landed on her feet in a crouch. Straightening up into a standing position, Sakura was getting ready to charge. . .

. . . but then she felt the fist that had not only connected with her torso, but ripped through the skin as well so now there was a fist in her stomach. A hand grasped her left shoulder, so tightly that the claws dug into her bone, so she didn't slide back from the impact. Blood flowed from the wound and the aspiring kunoichi bent forward so her head was bowed and her bangs covered her face.

"Sakura-chan!" "Sakura-san!" "Sakura!"

Vaguely hearing the voices calling her name, she saw out of the corner of her eye a sight that brought her back from her thoughts of pain. Cara, a liitle sister in Sakura's eyes, was on her knees, both hands covering her mouth, and tears pouring out of her wide eyes. Next to her, Shikamaru was standing with a look of shock on his face. Neji, someone she had grown close to recently, had a mask of pain eyes set on an indifferent face that were looking at her while he held back a screaming, struggling, and crying Tenten; an older sister to Sakura. Gai, too, was wearing that look of pain in his eyes. The jounin was also holding back a frantic Lee; another close friend of hers. Kakashi, the father figure she had lost, was kneeling on the ground trying to hold her two teammates in check. His lone visible eye was by far one of the most tortured. Naruto was still calling out her name while he fought against their sensei's grip. Tears threatened to fall from her brother-like figure's blue eyes. Finally, Sasuke. Suprisingly, he was struggling next to Naruto with the same look of pain on his face as he stared at his injured teammate fifteen feet away. Even more shocking, there was a look of fear in his obsidian eyes.

_'Fear?'_Sakura mused._ 'Fear of what?_

_**'He's afraid to lose you.'**_Inner Sakura's voice was barely a whisper. At that moment, a thought struck the injured genin; this was the perfect time to put her plan into action.

Weakly, Sakura reached up with her left hand to grab the wrist protruding out of her stomach as Inner Sakura began to heal the inside of her body. The Wolf Demon, smirking triumphantly, thought Sakura had grabbed her wrist in a last ditch effort to remove the first in her stomach. The cocky smirk still plastered on her face, she yanked her left arm to pull it out. When it didn't budge an inch, the demon furrowed her eyebrows and continued to pull at the arm in the pink-haired teen's torso.

It still didn't move.

"Did you really think you'd won when you punched through my skin, Wolf Demon?" By now Sakura was standing erect but still had her head bowed. The possesed girl stopped pulling at her arm when Sakura started speaking and watched as the girl she believed to be dieing lifted her head to reveal an expression that made the demon even more furious. Even though there was a little blood coming out of the corner, Sakura's mouth was twisted into a confident smirk and her eyes held that same confidence along with a glint of mockery. The demon growled and glared at her. In the span of a second, Sakura's expression turned into one of unadulterated anger and hate. She glared back at the demon.

"Did you honestly think I was going to lay down and die whle you killed my friends?! Well, did you?!" Her voice had risen to shouting level now.

"You don't get it! I need to kill him! I need to taste his blood! Anyone that gets in my way needs to die as well!" This was not Sierra's voice. This was the Wolf Demon talking in her rough, anamalistic tone.

"Well, you know something?" Sakura retorted."I don't give a damn because this is how it's going to go down. You are going to willingly calm down and go back inside Sierra and back off your rampage. That's your first choice. Your second choice, you can continue to fight-" Sakura tightened her grip on Sierra's possesed wristand formed her free hand into the shape of a gun before pointing it at her possesed friend's right shoulder "- and I will force you to a defeat." The tip of Sakura's index finger, the 'barrel' of her make-shift gun, started to glow a dark pink and sparking off electricity. The Wolf Demon chuckled.

"Do you seriously think a small, insignificant jutsu is going to scare me?" Sakura scowled.

"It should. The Electric Ray jutsu is the equivalent of the Chidori and Rasengan."

"It doesn't matter how strong it is; i'll just push your arm away before it hits." The demon smirked. Sakura's answering smile made that smirk disappear though.

"I know that's what you _would_ do, _if_I was planning on aiming at you." The pink-haired kunoichi moved her sparking hand so now her index finger was pointed at a spot just below her own ribcage. "However, that isn't the idea." The demon smirked again.

"That's suicide. You'll only be killing yourself."

"Obviously you don't know, or don't recall at the moment, how this jutsu works; let me explain." Pausing, Sakura drew in a deep breath before continuing. "When you concentrate chakra into your index finger, mold it, and release it as an electric beam, you don't have to be within hitting range or standing still to land a hit. Why? Because you can control how long that beam lasts, where it goes, and even how strong the electric charge is. It is advised, however, that the user is at least ten-and-a-half feet away from the intended destination. The reason for that being that when the beam makes contact with something -or someone- it will always, _always _give off an electric forcefield to anything or anyone within a distance of ten feet; as long as the beam lasts so will the electric forcefield. Not to mention, the more you increase the juice of the beam, the stronger the electric shock. You are only three feet, at most, away from me. Why do you think i'm not about to let go of your wrist? With this fist in me, plus the fact that my blood is on your skin -blood does conduct electricity by the way- you will be getting a shock directly from the beam as well as from the ten foot rule." Sierra's eyes were wide at first, but then they narrowed as she began to tug at her arm again. It still didn't budge.

"Your still not going to win!" Still tugging.

"Actually, I have already won because a) no matter how hard you pull at that arm ypu will not be able to get it free since I've inherited Tsunade's insane strength, b) you only have the chakra of an average ninja right now while I have three times my normal amount, at least, with a lot more chakra at my disposal, and c) you are in a position where, either way, I will win. Now, what do you choose?" There wasn't even a pause the length of a heartbeat before she answered.

"I will not lose to an insolent brat such as yourself." Sakura's glare increased in ferocity.

"Fine. Then we do this the hard way." The electrical, dark pink chakra at the point of the roesette haired kunoichi's index finger started to glow brighter. Sakura closed her eyes and took a deep breath again before tightening her grip on the wrist she was holding and opening her eyes to reveal hard, determined, emerald optics.

_'I really don't want to hurt her,'_ she thought, _'but it's the only way I can think of to save Sierra.'_

"**Electric Ray Jutsu!**"

The moment she felt electricity surging through her body and frieing her innards, Sakura screamed. It was all she could do to keep the jutsu running though her instincts were telling her to stop. She kept it going as long as she could, but eventually she had to stop. Panting, but still standing upright, she looked at Sierra. She shot a glare and an indignent "You stupid bitch! I'll get you forth this!" Glaring right back, the teen reactivated the jutsu.

"**Electric Ray Jutsu!**"

This time as she screamed and kept the jutsu going, Inner Sakura had to work to keep her conscious. Vaguely, she was aware of the people calling her name and another person's -or thing's because the sound was so inhuman- scream shadowing her it, the pain, was too much.

Cutting the jutsu, the sole female member of Team 7 found herself panting again, her knees shaking with the strain to keep standing, still clutching with all her strength to the wrist protruding out of her stomach. She was bent forward a little and since Sierra's demon hand was still on her shoulder, there was added pressure and pain. Lifting up her head to see her opponent/friend, Sakura's dry and parted lips turned into a bitter smile as she saw through her lashes that Sierra's position was identical to hers; slightly bent over, knees quacking with effort, head lifted to see how her opponent had faired. The only difference was that the demon was glaring at her with her red-yellow eyes. Realization flitted across Sakura's eyes as she made an observation that strengthened the resolve in her plan. There were only two demon chakra tails.

There _had_ been four.

Confident once again, Sakura asked her opposition, "Do you give up?" Her response was a snarl. Glaring at the demon forcing her to hurt her friend to an inch of her life to save her, Sakura reactivated the jutsu.

"**Electric Ray Jutsu!**"

The same pain coursed through her, but this time while Inner Sakura kept her conscious by feeding her internal wounds healing chakra, Sakura did not scream. Grinding her teeth, the pink-haired teen focused on three things and three things only. The first was to keep the jutsu going. The second was to make sure her grip on the wrist didn't slack any. Finally, she kept her gaze trained on Sierra as she screamed in agony -or rather the demon chakra surrounding Sierra.

As her emerald irises watched, the evil-feeling chakra shimmered and one of the tails' outline wavered. Narrowing her eyes, Sakura pushed more chakra into her jutsu which successfully strengthened the electric ray. More pain coursed through her but it had the desired effect. The wavering chakra tail evaporated. But the pain was once again too much. If she kept this going any longer, Sakura would be sure to kick the bucket. Sierra however, since she was currently possesed, would live and more than likely the demon would take complete control and that would be the end of that.

Once again ending the jutsu, Sierra and Sakura could no longer stand. Simultaneously, the two fell to their knees but refused to go any lower than that. Both were sitting on their legs, their breaths coming in short gasps. When their legs had caved, the movement had slightly jostled the fist in Sakura's torso. A spasm of pain was spreading rapidly outward from the wound and Sakura was seeing spots. Catching her breath, Sakura made eye contact with the Wolf Demon; her eyes asked her unspoken question. Demonized Sierra's response was weak barely audible growl. Swallowing, Sakura could barely manage enough air to restart the jutsu for hopefully the last time.

"**Electric Ray Jutsu!**"

This time there was no screaming. The two teen girls could barely manage to sit upright and keep eye contact. Once again gritting her teeth, Sakura kept watch for any wavering in the demon chakra. There was none. Ignoring the pain as best as she could, the pink-haired kunoichi pumped more chakra into the beam. _'More. . .chakra. . .'_was the only thought swimming through her mind which was thick with pain though Inner Sakura was working like crazy. Complying with her thoughts, Sakura pushed even more chakra into the jutsu. And it worked; the last chakra tail dissapated into the electric current, all demonic signs dissappearing with it. As Sierra's now half-lidded eyes bled back to their normal green-blue, Sakura released the jutsu. With their energy spent, the girls' hands fell to the ground infront of them before the two of them gave and fell to the ground. Facing each other where they lay on the ground, the genin girl saw Sierra staring at the wound on her stomach.

"I-it w-wasn't your f-fault, S-si-chan." Sakura rasped, causing Sierra to look up at her.

"Ye-yes it was. If I h-had had b-better control, you w-wouldn't b-be injured." Just like she thought; Sierra _was_blaming herself. Clearing her throat, Sakura spoke again.

"N-no it was not. Cara w-was in danger. You w-were trying to keep her safe. B-besides, i'll be okay."

"Promise. Y-you have to p-promise, S-saku-chan."

"I p-promise Si-chan." With that, Sierra's eyes drifted close. Fearing the worst, Sakura weakly reached out to grab her best friend's wrist, sighing in relief when she felt a faint but steady thrum under her fingers.

"Sakura-chan! Are you okay?! Say something!"

The bleeding girl didn't let go of the wrist she was holding as she turned to see her teammates, sensei, Shikamaru, and Cara hovering over her and Sierra. Smirking and arching a brow. she responded to Naruto.

"Something." Relief flooded through the faces of everyone before the worry returned as she groaned. Rolling onto her back, she looked at Shikamaru who was standing the closest to Sierra.

"Shikamaru, roll Sierra onto her back, will you? Be gentle though; i'm pretty sure she has internal damage." The lazy genius did as he was told and when he was done, Sakura moved her free hand to her stomach wound. The rosette-haired teen then started to push healing chakra into both herself and Sierra.

"Sakura, what are you doing?" Kakashi asked as he watched his female student exert more chakra.

"I'm healing us, Kakashi-sensei, as much as I can. Listen carefully. Whoever has the most chakra and stamina left has to take Sierra back to Konoha immediatley."

The girl had stopped healing now, having no chakra left.

"B-but, what about you Sakura-chan!?" Naruto cried, his curelean eyes wide with the innocence of the question. Sasuke stood next to him, staring at Sakura's face waiting for an answer as well. She gave them a sad smile before responding.

"Naruto, i've lost too much blood and the internal damage is beyond my knowledge. Sierra has more of a chance than I do. Even now, i'm losing cosciousness. Please, s-save. . .Sierra. . ." Her emerald eyes fluttered closed. While Naruto was screaming 'Sakura-chan!', Kakashi knelt down and felt for a pulse. It was faint, but at least it was there.

"All right, listen up. Naruto, Sasuke," the white-haird jounin said, catching everyone's attention, "both of you have the most chakra and stamina left. Naruto take Sierra and Sasuke you carry Sakura." Both boys nodded and picked up the girls bridal style. "run on ahead, both of you. Get them to Konoha as fast as you can, they might not have much time. We'll catch up later. GO!" With one final nod the boys were off. Bounding away as fast as they could, Sasuke and Naruto could only hope that they made it in time.

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**Yay! Chapter 4 is finished!!!!!!**

**WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!**

**PLZ R&R!!! I WANT TO KNOW WHAT YOU GUYS THINK!!!!!!**


	5. Chapter 5

**Hi everyone. Sorry for the long absence, but band and school have been driving me crazy and I completely forgot about my story. And I do realize how horrible it was of me to do such an unthinkable thing.**

**However, you all can thank **_**PirateQueen12**_** for reminding me. She was the only one to remind me. The only one who reviewed for Chapter 4.(I send all of you silent rebukes except PirateQueen12)**

**THANK YOU **_**PIRATEQUEEN12**_**!! --THIS CHAPTER IS FOR YOU!!--**

**Oh, and I will take my 5,000 cookies now PirateQeen12. –SMILES- **

**I do not own Naruto or any Naruto characters. I do own Sierra, Cara, any English jutsus, and any character not in the series.**

**DO NOT STEAL MY CHARECTERS!!! I'm watching you all. . .**

**-----------------**

**Chapter 5**

It was a beautiful morning; civilians were in the market talking, laughing, or arguing with merchants. Children were shouting happily as they played with their friends. The sick in the hospital were awake and chatting with visitors; even those in comatose were being given a good conversation, albeit it was one-sided. Long story short, it was few people that were spotted in bad moods.

One of these modern, out-of-season Scrooges was in room 312 on the third floor of said hospital. Inside this room and under the covers of the bed closest to the window, was a brunette girl that was half-awake Though her eyes were still closed, you could see by the way she rolled over every now and then that she was desperately trying to grasp once again the currently elusive bliss of sleep. It would have been easier to regain said bliss had the beeping of her heart monitor not been there.

_Beep._

_Beep._

_Beep._

'_Will somebody please shut that god-forsaken noise off?!'_

_Beep._

Seeing- or rather hearing- that sleep would not return until that incessant beeping was turned off, the girl groaned and sat up in her hospital bed. Immediately, Sierra's hard green-blue eyes zeroed in on the heart monitor. Glaring at the machine, the teen followed the cord all the way to her right wrist with her eyes.

_Beep._

_Beep._

_Beep._

_Be-_

Smirking at the now silent machine in triumph, Sierra laid down again with her back to the window. _'One more hour in here and then we'll see how long it takes Tsunade to see that I have disappeared from the hospital,'_ she thought whilst closing her eyes.

_Beep._

Hard, angry eyes were revealed as once, once again, Sierra sat upright. It was then she noticed the second occupant in the white hospital room. Short pink hair was spilled across the lumpy-looking pillow. A respirator mask adorned the pale face of her friend. _'Sakura?! What happened to her? Why is she in the hospital?'_

At that moment, all the things that had happened after the demon cloak had sprouted it's second tail, things Sierra did not remember ever happening (upon waking up, the Peace Keeper had remembered everything that had happened up to the second tail, after she was back in complete control to unconsciousness and had simultaneously concluded she was in the hospital), was revealed. Everything that had happened between her and Sakura rushed into her mind, courtesy of the Ten-Tails who was guilt ridden because of her unusual bout of lividness. The normally kind demon felt it her duty to show Sierra what had occurred in the clearing. Inner Sierra was horror-struck as the memories played from their own point of view.

When the memories were finished playing, all was quiet. Sierra's face was calm and her posture relaxed; this calm composure assured others, people who didn't know her very well, that she was not the slightest distressed. On the inside however, Sierra was drowning in a sea of self-loathing. The deeper she sank, the more the ice-cold waters of guilt stabbed her skin like a thousand sharpened daggers. Laying down and closing her eyes for the second time, the brunette didn't even bother trying to sleep. Instead she listened to the heart monitor's steady beeping. The once annoying sound was now a vibration in the air that Sierra hoped never stopped as long as her friend was in the depths of unconsciousness. The hours went by, and Sierra did not move.

----------

_Pat._

_Pat._

_Pat._

_Slide._

_Pat._

_Pat._

_Pat._

_Sli-_

"Damn it Naruto, stop pacing!"

"Shut up Sasuke-teme! Kakashi-sensei, why didn't anyone tell us about the Ten-Tails?"

"You were not informed before because Naruto, the Ten-Tails has always been residing in the Peace Keeper, passing from one body to another at birth. Most people have long since forgotten about the Ten-Tails." Sighing, Kakashi continued. "This also explains why there have only ever been female Peace Keepers. Since males cannot give birth, the demon wouldn't be able to transfer to next Peace Keeper."

When the others had gotten back to Konoha, they had all gone straight to the hospital. As soon as they had stepped through the door, a nurse had been there to greet them saying Tsunade had sent her to see to it that they all were taken care of. They were also informed that Tsunade was taking care of Sakura while Shizune attended to Sierra. Both teens were in surgery. Afterwards, Naruto and Sasuke were given an explanation as to what had happened in the clearing while they waited with Shikamaru and Cara in the waiting room. That was two days ago. The five of them were waiting for Tsunade to allow them permission to enter the room.

Just as Naruto was about to open his mouth to complain, the doors burst open to let in the blond Hokage. Without saying a word, she walked past them and motioned for them to follow her just as Shizune caught up with her. The group squeezed into the elevator and Tsunade pressed the button for the third floor.

"You may visit Sakura, _if_ you keep your voices down. I mean it. Nothing above whispers, _Naruto._" The fifth Hokage glared at the blond genin who nodded furiously.

"W-what about Sierra?" Cara squeaked from where she stood behind Shikamaru. Scowling, Tsunade answered.

"You of all people should know that Sierra never stays in a hospital longer than what she deems to be absolutely necessary. Usually, she stays for only an hour after she wakes up." Shikamaru sighed.

"As troublesome as she is, I seriously doubt Sierra won't be there."

Turning slightly, Tsunade looked at the chunnin. "And why do you say that?"

"She'll be too guilt ridden to leave." The elevator doors opened and they all stepped out following Tsunade down the hall.

"Five bucks says she's gone." Shikamaru smirked his lazy smirk.

"You're on Hokage-sama." The gang of seven stopped outside a room numbered 312. Grabbing the medical charts by the door, the slug-sannin studied them intensely as she and the others stepped into the room. Looking up from her charts, Tsunade gasped and dropped the charts.

Fully dressed in her own clothes, hair in a ponytail, and standing over Sakura's bed was Sierra. The brunette had an expression of extreme concentration on her face as her hands hovered over the pink-haired kunoichi's form. Green healing chakra flowed into Sakura's body.

"Sierra, what the hell do you think you're doing?!" Tsunade yelled, stepping closer at the same time.

"Since that was obviously a rhetorical question, I am not going to answer it" was the brunette's distractedly murmured response.

"I am going to assume you are in full knowledge of your condition. Assuming that, I ask you: why the hell are you exerting chakra after only two days of rest?!" Apparently the Hokage was so upset that her words had to be bit out of clenched teeth. Sierra growled in agitation.

"Give me a minute or two and I will answer all of your questions." By this time Tsunade was shaking in anger and Kakashi, Shizune, Sasuke, Naruto, Shikamaru, and Cara felt at least a little fear of her wrath.

The minutes passed. Eventually the green glow flickered out and Sierra sighed before lowering herself in the chair next to the bed. Turning her expressionless face to the group by the door, mainly the angry Hokage, the Peace-Keeper spoke again. Closing her eyes, the girl sighed again but kept her face devoid of emotion as she spoke.

"In answer to your question, I was healing her because it was my fault." Tsunade visibly deflated. As Sierra turned her head and attention back to Sakura, Kakashi cleared his throat to speak.

"It wasn't-" the white-haired jounin stopped when the teenager shook her head. Silence reigned in the small room until Naruto couldn't stand it anymore.

"Is Sakura-chan-"

"Yes."

"Are you really the Peace-Keeper?"

"Hn."

"What's it like?"

". . .It's like everything in the world."

"Why are you answering my questions?"

"I believe I said I would answer_ all_ of your questions Naruto."

"Ah! How do you know my name?!"

"Sakura described you. Also, your chakra pattern is your as well Kyuubi-chan's."

Silence.

"If that is all," Sierra stood and looked at her Shikamaru, "May Cara stay at your house during the duration of her stay?"

"Troublesome. You_ and_ Cara are staying at my house; you've always stayed there before and having Cara with you doesn't matter because we have two guest rooms. Beside my mom would kill me if I let you stay anywhere else." Sierra nodded and looked at the blond pre-teen.

"Stay with Shikamaru and don't go wondering off." The eleven-year-old opened her mouth to object but stopped at Sierra's glare. The Peace-Keeper turned to the Hokage.

"If it isn't too much trouble Tsunade-shishou, I would like to have Teams 13, 7, 8, and 10 in your office at noon _sharp_," insert glare at a certain masked ninja, "tomorrow. I myself will be there at 10 o'clock in the morning. Please inform everyone to be on time because I have several important announcements that need to be announced. Anyone late will not partake in them. If that person is part of a team, the entire team will be excluded. Sensei, genin, chunin, jounin; it doesn't matter. Also, Anko will need to be present as well. By the way, Sakura should be waking up in about a half hour and will be fit to attend the meeting." Tsunade nodded and in another moment, Sierra was gone out the window. There was silence once again before something occurred to Naruto.

"Oi, Shikamaru, how do you know Sierra?"

_Sigh._ "She's my cousin."

"WHAT?!"

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**I AM SOOOOOOOO SORRRRYYYYYY!!!!! I will try to update sooner. But, I have a present:**

**!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!CHAPTER PREVIEW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!**

_Hard, expressionless, green-blue eyes stared at the seventeen faces._

"_Before we go into the details of where and when, I have something to say about the Uchiha Family Massacre."The raven-haired boy of Team 7 stiffened as did his teammates. Sierra's eyes connected with Sasuke's onyx orbs and she spoke directly to him._

"_Uchiha Itachi. . ." pause ". . .is innocent." Before anyone could say anything to this, the Haokage's door emitted a soft knock and then opened revealing a man in a black-haired man that sent off a sense of extreme power._

_-----------------------------------_

**WELL?? Anyway, I hoped you liked this chapter. Like I said it is dedicated to PirateQueen12.**

**PLZ R&R!**


	6. Chapter 6

**Hey everyone! Sorry it me so long to update. A number of things kept me from my lovely computer!! Any who, here is the sixth chapter.**

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**Chapter 6**

It was dark, around midnight, as Sierra exited the gates of Konoha. Glancing around, her body tense, the brunette took to the trees. Stopping in a clearing not far from the village, the recently recovered girl finally relaxed. Sitting with her back against a tree, Sierra closed her eyes with a sigh. A few hours had passed before she finally felt a presence moving towards her. A moment later it stopped a few feet in front of her.

"Sleeping?" it asked. The tone was dark and rich, like expensive chocolate, revealing that this person was male. The girl didn't even bother to open her eyes as she responded.

"No, but I should be. By the way, I felt your chakra signature a few meters back." The man chuckled and Sierra finally opened her eyes.

He was tall, that was what she first noticed. He was also covered from head to toe in a slimming black cape. The only noticeable skin was a bit of chin not covered by the shadows of his hood. Sierra mentally sweat-dropped. _'Why does he have to be so theatric?'_

"That's probably because it was you; anyone else would not have sensed me." Sighing at his comment, Sierra stood up.

"Anyways, everyone will be at the Hokage's office at noon tomorrow. Hide yourself, and when you hear your cue, come in through _door,_ not the window."

"What's my cue?" The Peace Keeper turned away and got ready to leave for Konoha. Calling over her shoulder, she answered.

"You'll figure it out; you are a prodigy after all."

And then she was gone.

--

"Gah! If Kakashi-sensei doesn't get here soon, I swear I'll- I'll- I'll do _something!_"

"Hn. Dobe."

"Teme!"

"Will you both please shut up- you're giving me a headache."

"Sorry, Sakura-chan."

"Hn."

It was five minutes until noon and the Hokage's office was getting crowded. Teams 13, 10, and 8 were all here, senseis included, along with the genin of Team 7 and Anko. Sierra sat at the Tsunade's desk surveying them all with an indifferent expression. Behind her stood Tsunade, Jiraiya, and Shizune who was holding Ton-ton.

Sakura glanced at Sierra and sighed. Right away the pinkette could tell her friend had stayed up last night. _'Why must she do things that hurt health, especially since she's recovering?!'_ The more she thought about it, the angrier she became. With her back straight and head held high, Sakura decided Sierra needed a good scolding and marched up to stand before the desk. With her arms crossed, she gave the brunette her scariest glare as of yet. Vaguely she felt everyone's eyes on her, but ignored them.

"Can I help you, Sakura?" Though her voice was apathetic, Sierra was a little afraid. She knew Sakura had seen how tired she was and also knew that she was in for a lecture. And although she was explicitly stronger than her, at its worst, Sakura's wrath was something to fear. Unfortunately, her tone only seemed to make her best friend even angrier. Sighing, Sierra leaned back in her chair and folded her fingers across her stomach.

"Okay, before you say anything," she began as Sakura opened her mouth, "you have to let me defend myself. First of all, I did not train at all yesterday so I deserve some credit for that. I ate a full dinner, went to bed early, slept until 11 o' clock last night, made one important preparation for today's meeting, went back to bed, and slept until 9:15, which is a feat in itself since I always naturally wake up at six." Watching the genin girl carefully, Sierra hoped that was enough to get her off the hook.

Sakura on the other hand, was thinking over what Sierra had said very carefully. The female of Team 7 examined every word and phrase trying to find exactly what it was that had been left out. She found, it and her eyes narrowed.

"Exactly how long," the pinkette all but hissed, "did that preparation take?"

'_ShitshitdoubleshitSHIT-'_ was what was running (repeatedly) through the Peace Keeper's mind as she tried _very_ hard not to squirm under Sakura's scrutiny. Bracing herself, she gave her answer. As expected, Sakura exploded.

"TWO HOURS?! YOU WASTED_ TWO HOURS _OF SLEEP ONSOMETHING THAT COULD HAVE WAITED UNTIL MORNING?!" She was shaking in anger, her arms now down by her sides. It was at this moment that the clock stroke noon and Kakashi poofed in with a happy 'Yo!' He went unnoticed.

"Actually, it couldn't wait." Sierra said nonchalantly. Sakura scowled and re-crossed her arms.

"Just what was so important that it couldn't wait until morning?" she sarcastically inquired.

"A matter that will be revealed soon."

"My _GOD!_" Sakura cried, throwing her arms up in the air. "You are so stubbornly secretive! I swear you are even worse than Sasuke and Itachi! Why can't you-"

"_What did you say?!"_ Sasuke's hiss came from directly behind the viridian-eyed teen. Sakura shivered and swallowed when his warm breath me the back of her neck. Her breathing hitched at his obvious closeness. While Inner Sakura streamed out obscenities, the outer Sakura stared anxiously into Sierra's tense eyes.

"Uh, what do you mean Sasuke?" the girl stammered.

"You know what Sakura." Sasuke said, coming around to stand in front of her. "First of all, I am _nothing _like that bastard." A snort from behind him caused Sasuke to whip and glare at Sierra who was trying to cover up her laughter by coughing. _'Help me!'_ Sakura mouthed before Sasuke turned back to her.

"And anyways, how would _you_ know what Itachi was like?" The genin boy growled. As he took a half-step forward, Sakura took a half-step back. All of a sudden, the sharingan wielder became rigid and Sakura saw a realization make itself known to him. His eyes tightened into an even fiercer glare than before and light up with an even brighter flame of fury as his mouth twisted into a snarl. His shoulders tensed, but when he spoke through clenched teeth, his voice was deadly calm.

"Unless. . ." he began, slowly, as if testing it, "Unless you've met him before." He paused and took another half-step forward. Sakura took another half-step back. "Have you?" he demanded.

". . . Y-yes." Her answer caused the boy to snap. Sharingan swirling, Sasuke grabbed his teammate's shoulders and gave her a rough shake. Some people called their names but all fell on deaf ears.

"What?!" He shouted. "Where?! When?!" A rough yank on the back of his shirt caused him to let go and instinctively throw a punch at his 'attacker'. Sierra easily caught his fist in hers and twisted it behind his back, pushing a little to make him fall to his knees. In the next moment, both hands were tied behind his back with chakra strings. The raven-haired teen glared up at the brunette who was regarding him with an impassive expression.

"Sakura-chan!" Naruto cried, running over to the girl who was rubbing the spots on her arm where Sasuke had grabbed her.

"I'm fine Naruto." She said, offering him a reassuring smile. The blond smiled back before rounding on the Uchiha.

"Teme! What the hell is your-" the orange-clad teen didn't get to finish because the next thing he knew, Naruto was skidding back into a wall. Groaning, he sat up to see Sierra where he had been moments before.

"You!" He yelled, pointing an accusing finger. "Why the hell did you punch me?"

"I punched you," she said in an empty, emotionless tone, "because you, although being his teammate, do not have the right to lecture the Uchiha, Uzumaki-san. Especially when it is about his family and when you do not have the full details on the matter." Sierra paused and turned to the kneeling boy. "However, just because it is your family, does not give _you_ the right to act like that. Maybe you should try listening first."

"And why do you say that?" he growled.

"Because you, Sasuke-san, are also ignorant of all the details." At this, the rookie managed to stand up, without the use of his hands, and look the Peace Keeper squarely in the eye. The room's atmosphere got even tenser and the sound of shuffling feet echoed around the room.

"If you're so knowledgeable on the subject," Sasuke sneered, "maybe you should enlighten me." Sierra glared right back at him.

"All right, I will." She growled. "But you have to swear to remain calm. No yelling, screaming, death threats, or murder attempts, got it?" He gave the girl a quizzical look but nodded all the same and a moment later, his hands were free. Sasuke and everyone else were giving the Peace Keeper, who was once again sitting at the hokage's desk surveying them, their undivided , expressionless, green-blue eyes stared at the seventeen faces. Sierra's eyes connected with Sasuke's onyx orbs and she spoke directly to him.

"Uchiha Itachi. . ." pause ". . .is innocent ." Before anyone could say anything to this, the Hokage's door emitted a soft knock and then opened revealing a man in a black cloak that sent off a sense of extreme power, which put everyone in the room (except Sierra, Jiraiya, and Tsunade) on their guard. A moment of silence passed before it was broken by a dry tone.

"You know, that wasn't exactly your cue." As she finished speaking, Sierra started making her way over to the man, pausing to whisper something in Shikamaru's ear. The chunin's eyes widened before he nodded.

"I know, but I thought it would be more fun to come in now." The man stated, making Sierra roll her eyes as she stopped next to him. The man shifted and turned to look at her.

"Sierra-sama," Gai called, causing everyone to look at him, "exactly who is this?" The brunette glanced quickly at Shikamaru, who nodded, and shrugged, still maintaining indifference.

"Uchiha Itachi." And as if to prove her point, Sierra reached up and pulled his hood down, unveiling the 18 year old missing-nin.

The reactions were as follows: several people gasped, everyone tensed, Sasuke growled and charged Itachi- or rather, he _tried_ to charge him, only to find that he couldn't move.

"What the hell?!" The immobile boy was futilely trying to lift his legs. "_Why can't I move?!_"

"How troublesome." Everyone looked at Shikamaru and found that he was holding Sasuke in his Kage-mane justu.

"Sorry about this, Sasuke-san," Sierra said just as just as said boy opened his mouth, "but I had to take precautionary measures. I'd have done it myself, but I would rather avoid arguments with Sakura and Tsunade-shishou about how I am, and I quote: 'still recovering.' Anyways, you can't attack Itachi-san be-"

"I have every right to attack him!" Sasuke growled, interrupting the Peace Keeper. He continued on without noticing the heightening feeling of danger. "That _bastard_-"

"Silence!"

Without warning, two crescents of silver chakra flew towards Sasuke. The first cut through the long shadow connecting Shikamaru and Sasuke, sending the chunin stumbling into the arms of his teammates just as the second crescent smacked into Sasuke's face. The force of the blow him fall onto his back. When he sat up, the crescent had turned into a rectangle that covered his mouth. Like anyone else would have, Sasuke tried to rip the (surprisingly solid) rectangle off his face, only to jerk his hands away when they were shocked with a bit of electricity.

Footsteps caused him to look up. He glared as Sierra knelt directly in front of him and another shadow bind jutsu kept him from moving. Her face was blank and only minutely narrowed eyes showed any vague wisps' of anger. One hand reached out and slowly took off his forehead protector and then laid it on the ground. Her other hand came up and grasped his chin between her thumb and index finger. She spoke, and when she did, the room was quiet enough to hear a pin drop- much less Sierra's soft voice.

"You need to calm down Sasuke-san." Then she leaned forward and kissed his forehead.

Every set of eyes in the Hokage tower widened. The shadow bind jutsu broke, but Sasuke was too shocked to move. He started to realize a cool sensation was spreading over his entire body, calming his anger and clearing his thoughts. The teenager tried to figure out what it was that made him feel so…so…so, what? How was it that he felt? Calm? No, that wasn't it. Safe? Yeah, he felt safe, protected. _'I haven't felt safe since I was eight, when my mother used to hold me . . .' _Unbidden, his mother's face appeared in his mind.

'_Oka-chan. . . .'_

Sasuke hadn't realized he had closed his eyes until he snapped them open when Sierra leaned back, but kept her grasp on his chin. Her face was completely calm now, including her eyes, and her voice reflected that serenity.

"Better?" she asked. The spiky-haired genin nodded, his face once again apathetic. (Still sitting against the wall, Naruto furrowed his eyebrows and wondered why he had this sudden urge to beat the crap out of his male teammate.) As she stood, Sasuke furrowed his eyebrows. He wanted to ask questions, but that damn rectangle was still on his face.

"Sasuke-san," Sierra called, looking completely serious but also understanding, "I know how hard this is for you; believe me when I say that no one can understand how you must be feeling better than I do." At this point Sierra had clenched her fists and closed her eyes. Before continuing, she took a deep breath and relaxed her shoulders. "However, you have to listen o what I am saying. If you don't, I will be forced by the Grand Elders to place you under arrest for attacking an innocent. _Please_ do not force my hand, Sasuke-san."

"The Grand Elders?"Sakura gasped. "Sierra, you wouldn't really-"

"I wouldn't have a choice Sakura. Sasuke-san, it's your decision- just know that unless he turns on Konoha, you can't ever attack your brother. Now, will you behave?" Sasuke nodded, but everyone could tell by the look on his face that he wasn't happy about the situation at all. The rectangle disappeared, and he stood, grabbing his hitai-ate on the way up. The room was silent as they looked at the boy who would not make eye contact.

A loud, disgusting fart was let loose through the air. People were suddenly groaning and covering their faces. Even as their bodies turned away from the origin, every head turned to look at the culprit- moat with glaring eyes. "Eh heh heh. Sorry about that, guys. The owner of Ichiraku wanted me to try out his new ramen recipe and it had beans in it." Naruto explained, a sheepish smile adorning his face as one hand reached up to rub the back of his head.

"Naruto, you idiot! That's disgusting!" Sakura shouted from behind her hands while Shizune and Tsunade opened the windows.

After a few minutes when everything had settled down and the stink had vanished, Sierra once again settled down in the Hokage's chair as everyone else stood with their genin teams. Itachi stood at the back of the room next to the door while Anko leaned against the room's west wall, opposite of the two sannin, Shizune, and Ton-Ton.

"Let's get on with this, shall we?" Sierra drawled, her brusque tone single-handedly commandeering the room's attention. "Teams Seven, Eight, Ten, and Thirteen, your presence here holds great importance. I have a two-part mission I cannot do myself. In other words, I need a team, and one of you four genin teams will be it." The dark-haired teen girl paused to let that sink in. For the most part, everyone but Tsunade looked shocked. She pressed on. "That means that one team will be coming with me to the Village of Tranquility, and will live, train, eat, scout, and fight with me. For a while, I thought seriously about breaking the teams apart, picking the best three and making Jiraiya oversee with me. However, I decided against it because I have read the reports you senseis have written about your abilities and have decided that you are all good enough, but would work best with your original teams.

"As for the three teams that will stay behind, you will have a task just as hard, demanding, dangerous, and important as the team that will come with me. That is part two of my mission and once we know who's coming with me, more information will be given out to the ones staying behind. Before I say anything more, let me make one thing perfectly clear.

"It does not matter if you are coming with me or staying in Konoha. Both parts of this mission are equally dangerous and the percentage of all of us coming out of this alive is less than 5. If you want to back out, no one will hold it against you. You have to think about this seriously, especially for those of you with civilian parents."

Once more the room was silent- at least until Sakura sighed.

"Both of my parents are civilians, and neither one of them have had family members that were shinobi. However, I can tell you that they know the pain of loss and understand that every time I go out on a mission I may not come back alive. I believe I speak for everyone when I say, I'm not backing down." The strength and determination in her voice made everyone stand up straighter as Shikamaru, Ino, and Chouji- all having civilian mothers- nodded their agreement to her words.

For the first time since her rescue, Sierra's face softened and a small, prideful smile tugged its way onto her face. She nodded and once more her expression hardened, though it was a bit softer than before.

"Now that I know all of you will be participating, let's continue. You have exactly one month and two days to get ready for the day I chose my team. Teamwork is an essential quality that needs to be refined to perfection. However you will also want to work on your singular abilities as well. That's where it gets interesting. As your senseis help you with your teamwork, you can ask any other jounin for help. I advise you to ask for help according to the skills that are your weakest and the ones you want to expand. Any and all jounin are available to you- even ones that are teaching your fellow genin teams.

"For instance, if you need to work on your taijutsu, go to Gai-san; genjutsu expansion, Kurenai-san. If you have been learning medic ninjutsu and wish to continue your learning, you could even ask Tsunade-shishou or Shizune-san. For those of you with kekkai-genkai or jutsus passed from family members, I would both refine those as well as work on expanding your other tai, nin, and genjutsu skills so that you have something to fall back on.

"In one month and two days on the morning of March 4, all of you will meet in front of the Forest of Death at precisely 9 am. If any of you are late- whether you are a genin, jounin, or chunin- the entire team will be disqualified from having any chance at coming with me and will be forced to stay behind and help with part two of the mission. So do not be late, _Kakashi._"

The white-haired jounin suddenly found himself under the force of three murderous glares. He chuckled nervously.

"Eh heh heh. Don't worry guys, I'll be on time." He said making shooing gestures with his hands. The glares intensified.

"You better be Kakashi-sensei!" Naruto exclaimed.

"If you're late," Sakura growled, "we will make you pay dearly." Her smile was sardonic and evil.

"You'll rue the day you passed us as genin." Sasuke hissed.

"And that's a promise!" They chorused before turning back around to face Sierra, Sakura asking her politely to continue while Kakashi made a mental note not to be late March fourth.

"Anyways, does anyone have any questions?" No one raised their hands. "All right then, one last thing. Please do not repeat _anything_ that happened here or what was said to anyone. If asked, just say that you are all candidates for an important mission. Am I clear?" 'Hai's, 'yes ma'ams and grunts intoned. "Very well, Teams Eight, Ten, and Thirteen, are dismissed." When they had all filed out and the door was shut behind them, Sierra motioned for Anko to come stand next to Team Seven.

"Now," the brunette began, "I am going to talk about the Cursed Seal. Sakura, Uzumaki-san, you are here because you are a part of Sasuke-san's team and should hear this. –"

"Ano-sa, ano-sa! If we're talking about the Cursed Seal, why is Anko here?" Naruto sounded truly curious and by the looks on their faces, Sasuke and Sakura wanted to know as well. Apparently though, _they_ had been smart enough not to interrupt the Peace Keeper. However, it was Anko who responded.

"Because, brat, I have the Cursed Seal, too." Before Naruto could counter, Sierra interrupted them.

"Anko-san used to study under Orochimaru and thus became one of the first to have the seal. Getting back to what I was saying, the entire reason Sound was after me in the first place was because I have created an antidote for the Seal, and Orochimaru does not want me giving out any vaccinations."

"You made. . .an. . .antidote?" Sakura whispered to the quiet room, her green orbs wide. Sierra nodded.

"Yes and I am making it required for every ninja in every single village, even the academy students, have to get one. However, those who have the Cursed Seal already have to be seen by me personally. I've already been to every other village and handed out vials upon vials of antidotes and a list of ingredients to make more. Thankfully, it only has to be administered once in a person's lifetime, but I am making it regulated that everyone that wants to be a ninja has to have one; at least until Orochimaru is dead.

"That's why I gave you all two days and one month for training- so that Teams Seven, Eight, Ten, and Thirteen could get vaccinated and still have enough time to prepare."

"Um, Sierra?" Sakura called. "What about those that already have the Cursed Seal?"

"It can still be removed," she answered, "but requires a one day, bed-ridden recovery; another reason for the extra two days. The process is not only incredibly painful, but also extremely dangerous.

"When Orochimaru bit you two, he injected a poison into your system- mostly it was a chemical mixed with his own chakra and a few other substances. Before we can administer the antidote to you, we have to draw out most of the poison. It will be extremely excruciating, but you will be sedated and not feel most of the pain."  
"But if we are going to be sedated, how will be able to feel the pain?" Anko asked.

"Apparently, the poison dilutes a bit of the sedative, so you will still feel some pain. Because of that, we will have people in there to hold you down so you are not flailing around and disrupting the procedure, which brings me to my next point.

"The reason this procedure is so dangerous, is because if even the smallest drop of poison gets to your heart, you will die, and there will be nothing anyone can do to save you."

Silence cloaked the room. Sighing, Sierra closed her eyes and rubbed her temples. Her eyelids still covered her greenish-blue optics when she continued speaking. "I am offering a second course of action; an extremely powerful seal. It won't remove the Cursed Seal, but it will keep it from activating and Orochimaru won't be able to do anything to your chakra. However, my seal also had a few drawbacks. For one, it will take a lot longer to heal from- about one week. Secondly, if Orochimaru gets his hands on you, I have no idea if he'll be able to break through my seal or not."

"Sierra," Kakashi inquired, "why the second option? If it's the pain you're worried about, I'm sure Sasuke and Anko have a high tolerance level for it." Sierra half opened one bleary eye to look at the ex-ANBU member.

"If it was just the pain, Kakashi, there wouldn't be a second option." The brunette stood and walked over to one of the open windows, hands clasped behind her back.

"As I said before, Orochimaru's chakra is a part of the poison that makes up the Cursed Seal. Because of that, a link is formed between him and everyone that has a cursed seal. However, the link is so small, that the best he can do is send images to your unconscious mind. During the procedure, you will be unconscious. This gives Orochimaru the opportunity he needs to send you nightmares that play on your worst memories as well as your weaknesses. Every nightmare a person experiences, will cause them to toss and turn in their sleep- Orochimaru's will be no different in that aspect. Not to mention, a person's body- unconscious or not- will try to move away from pain. Both those things together equals a lot of thrashing."

". . .has anyone died of the procedure?" Itachi, surprisingly, was the one to ask it. At the sound of his brother's voice, Sasuke tensed. But when Sakura, to his left, grabbed his hand and Naruto, to his right, put a stilling hand on his shoulder, the ebony-haired teen relaxed a bit; none of them had taken their eyes off Sierra's back.

It was a few minutes before Sierra answered the question, and when she did, her voice was devoid of any emotion. "Just one person, but the circumstances were completely different. About half the others did come close to dieing though." The girl heaved another sigh, turned around and spoke to the two Cursed Seal owners, her voice considerably softer than before.

"Neither of you have to decide now. Sleep on it, and when you come to the hospital tomorrow, tell me if you want it removed or sealed. Sasuke-san, please be at the hospital at eight o'clock tomorrow morning with an empty stomach, no matter what you choose, okay? Anko-san, please be there at noon; and Anko-san? Please don't eat anything at all tomorrow. At your respective times, Shizune-san will be waiting for you in the lobby to take you to the room where we will begin."

"Hey, can Sakura-chan, Kakashi-sensei and I come too? You know, to cheer teme on?"

"You will have to ask Sasuke-san after we are done here, Uzumaki-san. Now, do either of you two have any questions?" Both shook their heads no. "All right, then Anko-san, Shizune-san, Jiraiya, I must once again ask you to keep silent about today's proceedings. You are dismissed. Itachi-san, please come forward." The three walked out the door, Shizune carrying Ton-Ton, and Itachi came to stand before the wood desk. Once more, Sasuke tensed and Sakura squeezed her teammate's hand while Naruto tightened his grip on his best friend's shoulder. Behind them, Kakashi audibly shifted his weight. All these simple gestures seemed to be sending the younger Uchiha the same message: _We're here for you._

"Before we begin, Sasuke-san, do you want Sakura, Kakashi, and Uzumaki-san to leave or do you want them to stay? It's your choice." There was silence while the boy thought about it. His answer surprised them.

"Hn. If they want to leave, they can, but I have no problems with them staying." _'I want them to stay.'_ Sierra nodded and sat back down behind the desk.

"Okay, Sasuke-san, ask your questions."

"How can Itachi be innocent when I saw him?" His words came out through grit teeth.

"First of all, the Itachi you saw was not the real Itachi; it was someone posing as him. Secondly, at the time of the massacre, your brother was with me going over mission details."

". . . He was with you?"

"Hai." Sierra said. "Sarutobi-sama had given Itachi-san the mission of gathering information on Akatsuki by posing as a new member. The mission was only supposed to last two to three years, but circumstances changed and he had to keep playing the role until a few weeks ago. The mission was top secret- only Sarutobi-sama, my sensei, Taido, and I new the truth. If you don't believe me, here are the official details." The Peace Keeper tossed a mission scroll to Sasuke who caught it flawlessly. Letting go of Sakura's hand, he opened the scroll and immediately his two teammates and sensei bent their heads closer so they could read it as well. Soon enough, Sasuke furled up the scroll and tossed it back to Sierra.

"Okay, so Itachi is innocent. But who's responsible then?"

"Before we answer that question Sasuke," Sierra began, "you have to know that only four people have required the Mangekyou Sharingan and that there are a lot of illegal jutsus not known to us-"

"_Who?_" Sasuke growled.

"Uchiha Madara." Itachi whispered.

Sasuke's head whipped around to stare at his older brother who stared evenly back. After a few moments, he looked back at Sierra who nodded in agreement to Itachi's statement. Glancing back and forth between Sierra and Itachi, he frowned.

"That," Sasuke scoffed, "is impossible. Uchiha Madara faced off with the First Hokage over a century ago and died."

"Who else can it be, Sasuke-san?" Sierra asked. "Even if a person from outside can make it seem like they have Mangekyou Sharingan, they can't actually use it. From your description, what you were trapped in was the real thing, not just a genjutsu, which means it had to have been an Uchiha."

"Who are the others that have Mangekyou?" the teen demanded.

"Uchiha Madara's little brother- whom Madara killed-, Kakashi's one sharingan eye, and Itachi. Sasuke's eyebrows furrowed in confusion and he spared another glance at the 18 year old. Taking a step away from his ream, he voiced his frustrations.

"How does he have Mangekyou if he didn't kill the clan?"

"Sierra-sama," Itachi cut in, "may I?" She nodded and Itachi locked eyes with Sasuke.

"As you know otouto, two days before the massacre, those working in the Uchiha Police had a meeting. I decided to skip the meeting that night. . ."

_-flashback-_

_Cool night air hit my skin as I trudged through the forest. I felt no guilt for skipping the police meeting; I needed a break from being the 'prodigious son' and a nice long walk around Konoha was just what I craved._

_Another chakra signature caught my attention. It was extremely familiar. . .where had I. . . __'Shisui? What's he doing out here? Shouldn't he be at the meeting?'__ Heading in the direction of my best friend, something told me to hide myself from him. Instinct had saved my life hundreds of times before, so naturally I masked my presence as I approached the clearing he was in. It was indeed my cousin Shisui, and he was kneeling on the ground next to a. . .log? No, the color was wrong- it was peach instead of brown. A corpse. Shisui was kneeling next to a corpse._

"_Shisui," I called, coming out of hiding and taking a few steps towards him, "What are you doing." Neither my firm tone nor my sudden appearance had any effect on him._

"_Hello Itachi. I was wondering when you were going to show yourself. My eyes narrowed. Since when had Shisui been able to sense me when I intentionally hide my presence?_

"_What are you doing, Shisui." _

"_Why, I am getting ready to perform a henge no jutsu on this corpse so it will look like me."_

"_And why do you want to do that?" I was starting to feel uneasy, and my hand naturally drifted to my kunai pouch._

"_So I can stage my own suicide." I stiffened. He said this like it was a comment on the weather!_

"_Let me guess your next question, Itachi. Is it something along the lines of 'What the hell, Shisui? Why do you want to stage your own suicide?'" He stood and turned around. Through the gloom, I saw the expression on his face._

_He was smiling._

"_The reason, Itachi, is so that when Fugaku-sama is murdered, no one will expect me of the crime."_

"_Have you completely lost it Shisui?!" He sighed in regret and I knew then that this was not the Shisui I grew up with._

"_I didn't expect you to understand." Neither of us spoke and I used the time to prepare myself. Slowly, I drew out a kunai and slid into my stance._

"_. . .you know what I have to do, right, Shisui?" He, too, assumed into his stance._

"_I wouldn't expect anything less, Itachi." _

_-end flashback-_

". . .at the time neither of us had sensed Sarutobi-sama watching us in the shadows. After it was over he told me that Shisui had been under an unbreakable mind control jutsu- one that allowed the user to control a person's words and actions. Later, I found out that it was Madara pulling the strings. I think he wanted me to kill Shisui.

"The next morning, he told me about my mission and said that I was to leave for the Village of Tranquility the next day. So the morning of the massacre was the last time you saw the real me up until a few months ago."

'_He. . .really didn't want to do it.' _Sasuke thought_. _It was obvious by the amount of pain in his voice that he was telling the truth. _'So, Madara really is-'_

"Uzumaki-san, is there something you want to say?" the genin Uchiha looked at his male teammate and couldn't help but smirk despite the situation.

The blonde was currently dancing from one foot to another. His hands were clasped over his mouth, and his eyes were burning with unrestrained curiosity. It looked like it was killing him to stay quiet, and Sasuke guessed that only his fear of Sakura kept him check.

"YES!" Naruto screamed, making Sierra and Itachi flinch at his unexpected volume. "Who's this Madara guy? Why was he controlling that Shisui dude? What did Itachi mean when he Madara wanted him to kill Shisui? What's the point in that?"

"Uchiha Madara," Sierra drawled, "is the very first Uchiha. He was controlling Shisui so that it seemed like Shisui was turning traitor, which would force Itachi to either kill or capture his best friend. The point of making Itachi kill Shisui, was so that Itachi would get the Mangekyou Sharingan, which is a type of sharingan an Uchiha can only get after killing his or her best friend."

"But why would Madara want Itachi-san to have the Mangekyou sharingan?" Sakura mused. Sierra stared at her pink-haired friend before turning to the two Uchihas.

"Sasuke-san, Itachi-san, from this point on Sakura, Uzumaki-san, and Kakashi will need to now the story of how the Uchihas came into being and the first Uchiha Clan tragedy for this to make sense. Do I have your permission?" The two brothers glanced at each other before nodding their assent.

"Long ago, the heiress of the Hyuuga clan fell in love with an unnamed demon. Her father found put about their love and gave her a choice: your clan or the demon; she chose love. Eventually, the heiress and demon had two sons; Madara and younger brother by two years, whose name was lost. Their mother gave them the surname Uchiha for the fan used to strengthen fire, and they wore their name and symbol with pride. As they grew, they discovered their kekkai-genkai and called it the sharingan.

"One day, the Kyuubi sealed the unnamed demon away. This caused the mother to become ill at heart. With her sons grown, and her youngest married and expecting a child, she felt she had no reason to live anymore and passed away. This caused Madara, who had a demonic side but had been especially close to his mother, to lose it. Though it didn't show outwardly, concocted plans to get a better stronger sharingan. Years passed, and one day in a fit of rage, Madara killed his best friend and gained the Mangekyou Sharingan.

"Time passed and the idea of forming villages of ninja prospered. When the first Hokage, a ninja from a rivaling clan, came to power Madara tried to rebel. His brother, who had also gained the Mangekyou when he and his best friend were pitted against each other during a war, tried to stop Madara and reason with him. Madara wouldn't listen and killed his little brother, gaining an even more powerful type of sharingan in the process. He challenged the first Hokage, and at the Valley of The End, they had their duel. When the First returned to Konoha, and the hunter-nin did not find Madara's body, he was supposed dead.

"How Madara has survived all these years is a mystery, but he has and is now active again. To answer your question from earlier Sakura, I am not completely sure. However, you should be alert because whatever the reason is, it might have something to do with Sasuke-san in the near future, as well Uzumaki-san because of Kyuubi-chan."

"Eh? Me?"

"No, the other Uzumaki Naruto with a Kyuubi sealed onside of him."

"There's another Uzumaki Naruto with a Kyuubi?!"

"She was being sarcastic, dobe."

"Oh. . . What did you call me, teme?!"

"I called you a dobe, dobe."

"Teme!"

"Asswipe."

"Jerk!"

"Moron."

"Asshole!"

"Idiot."

"Emo!"

"Dead-last."

"Grr, Sasuke-teme, I'm gonna beat the crap out of you!"

"Hn. As if; you wouldn't be able to land a hit on me even if you tried."

"Why you- GAH!" Sasuke looked at Naruto who was rolling on the ground, clutching his head in pain, and smirked. Ah, good ole' Sakura. He could always count on her to shut that dobe up. In the back of his mind, he pitied Naruto, but thanked Kami that Sakura would never hit her precious 'Sasuke-kun.'

An explosion of pain snapped him back to reality and the force of the blow sent him sprawling on the ground next to Naruto. Sasuke immediately sprung upright, his cheek throbbing, and glared at Sakura. And then Naruto started laughing, pointing at Sasuke and laughing all the while.

"Ha-ha! Sasuke-teme got hit by a girl!" The blonde sang.

_Crack, crack._

"Exactly what," Sakura growled, "is that supposed to mean, Naruto?" Only then, did Naruto the gravity of what he had said.

"No! Sakura-chan, you got it all wrong! What I meant was I didn't think you'd be able to hit him." He blinked. "AH! NO WAIT!! I MEANT EMOT-"

"DIE, NARUTO!!"

Sierra, on the other hand, was watching Naruto get beat to a pulp with amusement like the other occupants in the room. Picking up the water bottle she had set behind the desk, the brunette took a nice long swig right as Sakura delivered the final punch to Naruto's jaw. It sent him crashing into the wall, and when he fell, he landed on his head, butt sticking up in the air.

'_I love water. It's refreshing, and cool, and-'_

'_**That Uzumaki kid has a nice ass.'**_

_SPPSSHHH._

'_-. . .it's all over Tsunade-shishou's desk.'_

"What the hell, Sierra?!"

". . .gomen shishou." Sierra mumbled, taking a handkerchief out of her out of her pouch and wiping the water up. _'What the hell, inner?!'_

'_**What? You have to admit, it is a nice ass.'**_

'_No, I don't have to admit anything!'_ Stuffing the square cloth back in her pouch, she sat back down just as Kakashi called her name.

"Are you _blushing_?" Now that he mentioned it, her face did feel warmer than usual. _Crap! I am blushing!'_ Of course, knowing that she was blushing only made it worse.

"Ooooh, she _is_!!" Sakura squealed. Taking a deep breath, Sierra forced a mask of commanding indifference on her face.

"Enough of this." She snapped. Everyone instantly calmed down. "Sasuke-san, do you have anymore questions?" The boy shook his head and Inner Sierra jumped for joy. "Very well then. Remember to be at the hospital at eight with your decision. Itachi-san, tomorrow Tsunade-shishou will announce your innocence. Dismissed." As soon as the door was shut, Sierra's head banged down onto the desk.

'_I hate you.'_

'_**Love you too, Hun.'**_

Two warm, strong hands pulled her into a hug. Sierra didn't jump; she had sensed it when Tsunade had started moving toward her. Instead, she sighed and opened her eyes halfway.

". . . I heard about Taido, Kyo , and Amu."

For a moment, Sierra willed the tears to come, though she knew they would not. She had not cried a single tear since she was five.

"I can't cry, shishou." Tsunade was shocked- she had never heard Sierra sound so lost before.

"I don't know what to tell you, Sierra."

"No one does. I'm thirteen and I feel like I've been middle-aged since I was five. It's always been that way; I'm too mature for advice, too strong for a teacher, and too cold to feel."

"You're not too cold to feel; it's just that your were taught not to let your emotions control you at a very young age and now, when you need the emotions to come out so you can relieve stress or grieve, you can't. Give it time. That's all you can do."

"Okay, shishou." Tsunade pulled away from their embrace and smiled a soft, reassuring smile. Sierra's answering smile was a bit sad and timid, but it was there.

"Now, go home and rest."

"Hai, shishou." Amber eyes watched as her ex-pupil jumped out the window before sighing a tired sigh.

"SHIZUNE! I NEED SAKE, ASAP!!"

"HAI!!"

--

**Well, that's the end of Chapter 6.**

**I hoped you enjoyed it.**

**BYE!!**


	7. Chapter 7

_-Sighs- I guess nobody is reading this. I know this because I only got one review. –SIGH- _

_However, I guess that is because I have not been updating._

**I THINK I MIGHT DICONTINUE IT!!!!!!**

**However, **_if I get five reviews (just five…) then I will put up the next chapter. So? What will it be?_

**Chapter 7**

White-hot spasms of pain wracked through her body, leaving the girl biting back gasps. Her eyes squeezed themselves shut even tighter, even as her petite form twitched into a fetal position. Gritting her teeth, she held her chakra to her and fought furiously against any sounds trying to force their way out into the open- she could not let anyone know of her suffering. Another bolt of pain and the tiniest thread of chakra laced with her torture escaped with a quiet whimper.

Moments passed and no other sounds came from her. Her torment raged on, increasing in strength with each passing minute. The almost inaudible creak of her door opening surprised her. How could she have missed their approach? As hazy as her senses were, she could not hope to place a name to the presence pausing in her doorway; she only knew they were friend, not foe. Should she feign unconsciousness? Could she? She had her scrunched form hidden under the lavender comforter; all she had to do was mask her expression. . .

A soft, exasperated sigh, several silent footsteps, and then the pressure of a form taking residence on the edge of her bed. "Troublesome;" Shikamaru whispered, "You're not fooling me, Sierra. Now come on, you need to take your medication before you get an anxiety attack." Neither the soft sound of the top drawer of her bedside table opening, nor the sound of her cousin rummaging through said drawer was enough to get her to move. When the flat side of a needle tapped her skin, only then did she react. Her body shrank away from the metal, curling itself into an even tighter ball. The movement cost her though; sharper flashes of pain ignited her screaming nerve-endings.

"I am not going back to sleep Shikamaru." She did not need the hushed tone as her voice was nearly gone after a month's neglect.

Another sigh was heaved. "This one won't make you fall asleep, Sierra. Besides, it's time to get up." One heart beat later, her alarm crowed it's wake-up call once, twice, and was shut off with a short click, sending the room into silence once more.

Grumbling, but knowing that he was not lying to her, Sierra did her best to relax despite the pain. Sensing that her rebelliousness had receded for the moment, Shikamaru administered the medicine.

"…today's the end of the month and two days." Sigh. "I can't believe I've been unconscious for nearly the entire time."

"That's what you get for doing two cursed seal removals in the same day. Not to be Sakura, but you should know better by now. We don't want to lose you."

The pain had drawn away to just a dull throb now and Sierra opened her green-blue eyes, sitting up in the process. When her optics had adjusted, the first thing they saw was her half-closed bedroom door. For some reason, she was abruptly frustrated- or rather, her inner self was.

'_Why does it have to be half-closed? Why not half-open?'_ It was a long moment before Sierra had an answer. _'I guess it just depends on what side of the door you're on. If you're on the outside, the door seems half-open, but if you're on the inside, the door seems half-closed.'_ For a moment, she wondered why. Why did it have to be that way? Why couldn't she be on the outside? Why _wasn't_ she? There was nothing stopping her from being like everyone else. . .

Then she breathed in another breath and remembered who she was and why she could never be on the outside. Swallowing her sigh, the teenage girl threw the off her covers and stood.

Unfortunately, her choice of nightclothes was rather indecent and Shikamaru, who had been looking out the window while the medicine took effect, had turned to see what she was doing. Choking on his spit at the sight of her attire, the poor boy almost gave himself whiplash as he turned his head away, a magenta blush hidden in the dark room.

"Put some clothes on, will you?" he muttered, feeling awkward and embarrassed in every fiber of his being. Shutting the bedroom door and flipping on the lights, Sierra cast a smirk at him and headed for the adjoined bathroom.

"It's my room- if you don't like what I wear, get out."

"Tch." Smirking again, the female made to step into the bathroom, but stopped by the call of her name.

"There's something more to this ordeal than you're saying, isn't there?"

A heavy silence stretched for several long moments. Only the muted breathing of the two shinobi was heard. Then Sierra stepped into the bathroom.

"Ah, there is." And she shut the door.

--------------------

"ITAI!"

"Quiet down, Naruto! Geez, why do you have to be so loud?" _Smack!_

"S-Sakura-chan…"

Team 7 was currently in the apartment of one Uzumaki Naruto. Upon arrival, Sakura had immediately headed to the kitchen to make breakfast, telling Sasuke to wake up their blond teammate while she did so. Grudgingly, the Uchiha had obliged. After literally dragging him out of bed, the two started arguing. On the verge of a fistfight, Sakura called them to breakfast. Naruto promptly began shoveling down his meal, only to bite his tongue. This led to his scream and Sakura's reprimand.

"Are you done inhaling your food, Naruto? It's already 8:30; we need to go." At this, Naruto's eyes got wide. After he swallowed the last bit of his food, somehow managing to swear while doing so, the cerulean-eyed teen hurriedly threw his trash away and strapped on his weapon pouches.

"Come _on_ you guys! We need to go _NOW!"_ His teammates shared a glance before following the loudmouth over to where he'd ran to his shoes.

"Naruto…?"

"Hn. What's your problem, dobe?"

Instead of answering right away, the blonde pushed his teammates out the door as soon as their sandals were on. Sparing them no glance, he grabbed their hands and ran.

"My clock is fifteen minutes slow!"

--------------------

The trio arrived at the Forest of just five minutes early. Teams 8, 10, and 13 were already present with their senseis along with, surprisingly, Team 7's ever-late teacher. The only ones not there were Sierra, Tsunade, Jiraiya, and Shizune.

"Yo! It's nice of you to join us." Kakashi intoned as he made his way over to his speechless students, trusty Icha Icha in hand. "I almost thought you weren't going to show."

Speechlessness morphed to anger when his words registered. Right away, Naruto started sounding senseless statements whilst Sasuke mostly retained his indifferent composure and Sakura glared at the ex-ANBU and her blond teammate, obviously mentally debating which one she was more annoyed with.

"Why don't you both just shut your mouths so we can go over to the other teams!" the kunoichi snapped, interrupting her sensei's retort. Apparently, she had decided to be equally pissed at the both of them. Adhering to her demand, both males fell silent and the four made their way to the other groups.

"Hey Sakura," Ino called, sashaying her way towards them and sending 'flirtatious' looks to Sasuke, "are you ready to watch my back as I walk out of Konoha as a part of the Peace Keeper's team?"

"I'm ready for your tears when I'm the one leaving, Pig." Sakura sneered. The blond female glared.

"What did you call me, billboard-brow?!"

"You heard me, Ino- _PIG!_"

"Just you wait, Forehead! You're going to be in tears by the time this is over!"

"You'll be the one eating those words Boar!"

"Oooh, Sakura! You better watch your mouth! Do you have any idea who you're talking to?!"

"Yeah- an obnoxious girl who cares more about her looks than anything else!"

"Why you-"

"ENOUGH!"

Immediately, the two girls stopped short. Shocked into silence, the two stared at the culprit. An eyebrow was twitching, and he was glaring ferociously at the two girls with a deeply annoyed expression. Bags were visible under his eyes. He had previously been sleeping on the ground, a tired expression on his face. But now, thanks to Sakura and Ino's arguing, Shikamaru was awake and ticked. He sighed and stood.

"Geez, it's impossible to sleep these days. Troublesome." Rubbing the back of his head, the deer-boy shot one more glare at the now sheepish girls, yawned, and started walking away. "Sakura, Kakashi," he called over his shoulder, "I need to talk to you two." The two afore mentioned instantly sobered and followed him. After they were out of earshot, Shikamaru stopped and turned to face them.

"What's up Shikamaru?" Sakura asked when a moment of silence passed.

"It's Sierra; and before you ask, she's fine. As you know, she woke up today. However, I'm worried about her; I've got a bad feeling about all this."

Sakura nodded. "I know what you mean. I can't shake off the thought that something bad is going to happen and it's going to happen soon. I don't think it will be in the immediate future, but definitely before this whole 'Peace Keeper mission' thing is over. What do you think, Kaka-sensei?"

"I think," Kakashi sighed, closing his book and eyeing the two, "that you are both right. However, we cannot do anything but try to prepare for every possible outcome."

"I don't like it," Shikamaru admitted. He had a sour expression commandeering his features. "The whole preparing without knowing what we're preparing for thing I mean. It leaves so many variables open."

Kakashi shrugged. "Sometimes it can't be helped, Shikamaru." With that, he turned on his heal and went back to Naruto and Sasuke who were fighting once more. The teens shared a glance before following the sensei.

The beeping of someone's watch froze all activity in the vicinity. All eyes zeroed in on Neji whose wyes were staring out his wrist. "It's nine o'clock." He said, confirming what they all had assumed.

Without warning, several loud bangs ignited, producing tons of smoke.

'_What's going on?'_ When the smoke had erupted, Sakura had inhaled some and was now coughing along with, by the sounds she heard, everyone else present. She glanced to her left, but couldn't see Shikamaru anymore; the smoke was too thick. _'Sasuke, Naruto, Kakashi-sensei; where are they? I've got to find them!'_ Thinking back, she remembered that the three had been close together when the smoke bombs had gone off. _'Good, that'll make it easier to find all of them.'_

Covering her mouth and nose with one hand, the kunoichi started moving in the direction her team had last been in, praying that they had stayed put or were at least moving towards her. With her other hand in front of her to prevent her from running into anyone or anything, Sakura struggled to call out the names of her teammates between coughs. It was getting increasingly harder to see as she listened for her teammates' calls amongst the other voices. _'But that's not right. Shouldn't the smoke be lifting instead of thickening?'_

"Sakura-chan!" Thank god I found you!"

"Naruto!" At the sight of her blonde friend, Sakura felt immensely relieved and then confused when she saw that he was alone. "Where are the others? Don't tell me you went off by yourself!"

The boy shook his head and grabbed her hand, pulling her back the way he had come; the direction she had been heading. "No, I made several kage bushins and Sasuke-teme tied the metal wires that he uses for his fire jutsus around our wrists." It was then that she noticed his other hand was out in front of him holding onto something. After a minute, the rosette-haired girl could make out the forms of three people. The Naruto kage bushin had obviously seen them too as he yelled out, "Hey, guys! I found her!" The three figures started moving forward, and the next second found Sakura in the embrace of the real Naruto as the bushin disappeared.

"Naruto as good as it is to be back with you guys, we need to make a plan and fast- the smoke is thickening."

The silver-haired jounin nodded. "I've-" He didn't have time to respond because the smoke started to swell. When the ground shook, Kakashi called out, "Sasuke, Naruto, Sakura, grab the person next to you and form a circle. Whatever you do, don't let go!" Sasuke grabbed Sakura's arm, who grabbed onto Naruto's, who grabbed onto Kakashi's, who grabbed onto Sasuke's. As the four held onto each other, the world seemed to shift around them, and all went black.

----------------------------------

**Well, that's the end of chapter 7. Let's see if there will be a chapter 8......you know what to do. ^_^**


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